


Bandom Bingo

by blurryfics



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Blurryface, Concerts, F/M, Fluff, Hiatus, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romance, Romantic Tension, Secret Relationship, Song fics, Vessel, regional at best, trench
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 15:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 29,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20641106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blurryfics/pseuds/blurryfics
Summary: This is a collection of fics that I wrote for a writing challenge being held on Tumblr! Fics range from fluff to angst and have both Tyler & Josh x Reader pairings.





	1. Introduction

Hey!

I just wanted to take a quick second to explain what Bandom Bingo is before you start reading! Bandom Bingo is a challenge currently being held on Tumblr. There are multiple rounds that each have a unique prompt. I decided to go ahead and share the fics that I wrote for the challenge on here as well so that you'll be able to enjoy them.

I am going to be trying my best to keep an equal balance between Tyler and Josh as well as fluff and angst so that it's enjoyable for everyone.

Happy reading! :)


	2. Fairy Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having a secret relationship brings up doubts about your true feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1141
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

Fairy lights twinkled as you and Josh danced around the living room, listening to some random Spotify recommended playlist of romantic music. His chocolate eyes were practically shining in the dim light as they looked into yours, the crinkles that you had quickly grown to love just visible at their edges. It was impossible for you to not fall more in love with him.

The song that had been playing faded out and Josh slowly brought your dancing to a stop. You kept your arms on his shoulders, hoping that he would at least dance with you for one more song, but when his hands fell away from your hips you knew the battle was lost.

“As much as I’d love to keep dancing, do you mind if we sit and talk for a bit?” he asked. It was the first thing he had said for quite some time, aside from a few compliments and “I love you”s, and his tone of voice put an uneasy feeling in your stomach.

“Sure. I’m just going to go grab a drink real quick, ok?”

“Can you grab me one?”

“Yeah.”

Once you had rounded the corner and were out of Josh’s sight, you took a moment to relax and take deep breaths. Josh hadn’t said anything about having a serious conversation, so it was very possible that you were overthinking the situation. Maybe he just wanted to talk about life for awhile, it wasn’t an uncommon thing for the two of you to do.

Once you felt a little more composed, you continued your walk to the kitchen and grabbed the drinks from the fridge. Josh had changed the music to something a little more suitable to your tastes by the time that you returned. He smiled at you as you handed him his drink and joined him on the couch. Jim, not wanting to miss out on the party, joined the two of you and made himself comfortable right between your laps.

“So much for cuddling with you,” Josh sighed as he popped his can open.

“There will be time for that later,” you said, reaching out to rub at Josh’s arm. “For now, you can cuddle with Jim.”

He smiled and rubbed at Jim’s belly, whose tail thumped repetitively against your thigh. You couldn’t even be mad, the happy look on Jim’s face was too adorable.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” you asked, letting your finger run idly around the edge of your can.

Josh shifted. “It’s something kind of serious, actually. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it for awhile.”

“Ok.”

“It’s nothing bad, Y/N. I promise.” He held a hand out to you, silently asking you to hold it. You happily laced your fingers between his and lightly squeezed his hand. “It’s just… been on my mind recently and rather than letting it eat me up inside, I wanted to get your opinion on it.”

“What’s going on?”

“Do you ever think it’s weird that we’ve been dating for a year but have never gone on a date outside the house? Or that only our closest family and friends know about our relationship? I mean, that’s not normal.”

You shrugged, “No, it’s not, but I told you from the start that I was willing to trust your judgement, Josh. If you think that we need to keep our relationship on the downlow still, then that’s what we’ll do. A public relationship can be a lot of added pressure when you’re at the level of fame that you are and I’ve never minded our inside dates. We always manage to make them fun, I think.”

Josh nodded slowly, but he didn’t look entirely convinced of what you were saying. He took a couple deep breaths before he asked his next question.

“So you, um, you’ve never thought that I did it because I didn’t love you or anything?”

“You’ve never given me any reason to believe that’s why you were hiding our relationship. Are you afraid that’s what I think?”

“Sometimes. And I know that’s not the truth because I love you. I love you so much that it scares me, actually, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not showing that to you.”

“Josh,” you sighed. “Jim, down.”

Jim slowly raised his head to look at you, then hopped down from the couch. Now that the space between you and Josh was free, you scooted closer so that you could snuggle up next to him. He rested his free hand just above your knee and you used yours to brush some of his hair back from his face.

“Josh, you’ve never given me a single reason to doubt that you love me. I mean, look at all this.” You gestured at the fairy lights that were hung around the room, strung over any available piece of furniture that Josh had been able to find. A number of other decorations were around the room, including one of your favorite candles crackling on the coffee table, a vase of your favorite flowers, and the drinks Josh had gone out of his way to get for you. “Then you add in the way that you treat me… I’ve never felt as loved and wanted as when I’m around you. I know the decision to keep our relationship secret is a difficult one, but in the end I know it’s a choice you’re making because of how much you love me, not the other way around.”

“You really think that?”

“Of course I think that. It’s obvious.”

Josh smiled and planted a kiss on your lips. You caught his face in your hand and held him close, deepening the kiss. The two of you were only interrupted when Jim jumped back up on the couch and planted himself on Josh’s lap.

“I think someone is jealous,” Josh laughed, scratching at Jim’s ears.

“Who wouldn’t be?”

Josh kissed you one more time before standing up and pulling you back into the middle of the living room. He took a second to get the romantic music going again before you started to sway around the room in time to the music. Jim tried to join in by circling around your legs, but that only led to you and Josh nearly crashing to the ground.

“See? Where else would we get to have fun like this?” you laughed. Josh had just caught you after you had tripped on Jim yet again and nearly fell straight into the coffee table.

“One day we’ll go to a wedding or something and we can properly dance without a dog trying to knock us over.”

“I don’t know, I think I’m perfectly happy right where I am.”

“Yeah?” Josh raised an eyebrow at you.

You smiled and leaned into his chest. “Yeah.”


	3. Concert Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler is unable to stop himself from interrupting a show to deliver an important message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1286
> 
> Warnings: None
> 
> Author’s Note: Back to normal posting! I figured all of you could use some pure, no strings attached Tyler fluff, so here it is :) I hope you enjoy it!

The music slowly faded out as Guns For Hands came to a close. One of the crew members brushed past where you were standing off to the side of the stage, obviously in a hurry to get something ready for the end of the show that was rapidly growing closer. You didn’t really mind, your focus was only on Tyler as he wandered over to take a seat behind his piano.

“This next song is one that many of you know,” Tyler smiled. From where you were standing, you could see his fingers lightly dancing across the keys without making a sound. “And tonight I want to take the time to dedicate it to someone very special who is here with me tonight. Y/N.” The crowd erupted in cheers as he turned to look in your direction. He waited for it to die down before he continued speaking. “This one is for you.”

You hesitantly stepped a little closer to stage, still making sure to stay out of view, so that you could get a better view of the crowd. As soon as the music started, they were bouncing around and dancing to the music - music that had been written for you. Tyler’s voice carried loud and clear across the arena, echoing the same words that he had said to you long before they had been lyrics.

It wasn’t until the bridge of the song that Tyler took his focus off the piano long enough to turn and look at you. As soon as you locked eyes, the words stopped coming out of Tyler’s mouth. Even from your distance, you could see all the admiration and love that Tyler had for you in his eyes. His fingers struggled to keep up with the keys as he looked at you, although the fans managed to keep the lyrics going. Nearly half the bridge had been sung by the time he finally got himself together and resumed singing. You shook your head, wondering how you had ended up marrying the most lovable dork on the planet.

The song finally came to a close, allowing Tyler another chance to speak. A hum of conversation and excitement was still radiating from the fans, but he didn’t seem to mind as he grabbed the mic from its stand and stood up from behind his piano.

“I’m sorry about that little slip up during the last song,” he said, casually sticking his other hand in the pocket of his pants. “I looked over to the side of the stage and saw Y/N standing there, looking amazing as always, and I just forgot what I was doing for a second.” He turned in your direction again, grinning widely. “Actually, Y/N, do you mind coming out here real quick?”

You raised your eyebrows and pointed to your chest, as if confirming that Tyler wanted you on stage in front of thousands of fans. He nodded and waved you out, confident in his decision. After a quick adjustment of your shirt, one that just so happened to belong to Tyler, you confidently strode out onto the stage. The first step you took into the view of the crowd was enough to elicit a deafening roar of cheers.

Tyler leaned down so that he could whisper in your ear, “I couldn’t get through the rest of the concert without being close to you for a moment.”

“You know there’s only a few songs left, right?”

“A few songs too many.”

He hooked a finger under your chin and pulled you into a kiss. You made it a whole two seconds before you started giggling. Kissing Tyler in front of thousands of screaming fans wasn’t exactly an experience that you were used to and you could practically feel every pair of eyes that was on you.

“I’ll see you after the show,” you whispered before turning and walking offstage, making sure to give a little wave to Josh who was happy to return the gesture.

The rest of the concert seemed to fly by. Before you knew it, Tyler was running offstage and throwing his sweaty arms around you. You squealed as he spun you in circles, dampening the edges of your clean shirt with the sweat dripping from his arms.

“Gross,” you giggled, finally peeling him off of you. “Couldn’t you have waited until you toweled off to do that?”

“Nope.”

He grabbed a water bottle from a nearby crew member and chugged it in one go. Once he was done with that, and had launched the cap off the top, he grabbed your hand and led you back down the concrete hallways to his dressing room. You hopped up onto the small counter in the room while he changed out of his sweaty shirt and toweled off.

“What did you think of the show tonight?” he asked.

“I thought it was really good, Ty.”

“Just really good?”

“Ok, it was great, but I know that if I praise it too much then you’ll start to tell me all the things that went wrong.”

“You’ve got me there,” he smiled.

Once Tyler was mostly dry, he wandered over and gently pushed your knee to the side, providing him with enough room to stand between your legs. His hands moved to rest gingerly on your thighs.

“I hope you know how much I love you,” he said, his tone suddenly growing serious. “I try to show you in as many ways as I can, but somehow I feel like it’s never enough.”

“Of course I know that you love me, and I hope you know that I love you just as much, if not more.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” he smiled, leaning in so your noses were mere inches from one another. “You still take my breath away every time I see you, did you know that?”

“I kinda guessed that after you forgot the lyrics to a song you wrote  _ for me _ ,” you giggled. “Two years of marriage and I’m still not used to your antics.”

“One day you will be, even if we’re old and gray by then.”

You smiled at the thought of still being with Tyler when you were older. It was comforting to know that no matter what life threw at you, he was still going to be by your side. 

“I don’t deserve you, Tyler,” you whispered. “And I still can’t believe that you’re in love with me too.”

“I’m never going to stop being in love with you. Ever. You’re stuck with me.”

“I’m not complaining.”

You wrapped your arms around Tyler and pulled him in for a kiss. One of his hands slipped under the hem of your shirt, making you jump. Your hands started to run down his bare chest, making him deepen the kiss in response.

“Bus leaves in ten minutes! Get your stuff together!” one of the crew members called from the hall.

You and Tyler immediately jumped away from one another, afraid that they were going to peek into Tyler’s dressing room and see you two getting a little handsier than was appropriate for your situation.

“I’ll make it up to you later,” Tyler winked at you before pulling on a clean shirt.

“That might not be such a good idea on a crowded tour bus,” you said as you hopped down from the counter, “but I’ll take a rain check.”

“Deal.” Tyler finished picking up a few things and then turned to you. “Ready to get out of here?”

“Let’s go.”

Tyler wrapped an arm around you as you walked out of the room and headed for the tour bus. “I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you too, Tyler.”


	4. Don't Blame Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After weeks of wondering where you stand with Josh, you finally gain the confidence to ask him a question that’s been bothering you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1186
> 
> Warnings: Implied alcoholism, alcohol use, profanity, angst
> 
> Author’s Note: This is the last mid-week bingo post before Realize That It’s Gone starts up next week! Hopefully all of you are excited :) And I hope you enjoy this one!

You leaned against the kitchen counter and stared out the window at the twinkling lights of Los Angeles. The view from the house that you and Josh shared had always been one of your favorite parts; it was one of the few things that didn’t hold bad memories when you looked at it. There had been countless nights where you sat in the dining room, alone, looking out at the city lights.

You checked the clock as you poured yourself another glass of wine, hoping that this one might finally fill the hollowness you felt in your chest. It was nearly two in the morning and Josh still hadn’t returned from whatever event he had told you he was going to. Despite your strained relationship as of late, you still hated to go to bed without him. It felt like the final nail in a coffin you weren’t yet ready to bury.

And to think, you had once expected the move to LA to be  _ good _ for the two of you. How wrong you had been.

Your glass of wine was still half full when you heard Josh’s car pull into the garage. He walked into the kitchen shortly after, carrying a jacket over one arm and a bag in the other. You watched silently as he set his things on the counter and kicked his shoes off next to the door.

“Hi,” he smiled.

“Hi.”

Josh walked around the counter and gave you a kiss, forgoing a comment about the taste of wine on your lips tonight. It always amazed you how he could so easily pretend like nothing was wrong when he felt like it. You had always envied him for it.

“How was the party?” you asked, trying to emulate at least a little of the normalcy with him that you so desperately missed.

“It was good. I had a nice time.”

You nodded and gulped down another large sip of wine. Josh wandered further into the living room and started to pull off his sweater, revealing his undershirt. 

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Josh sat down on the couch and leaned back, letting his eyes fall closed. You admired him, from his dyed red hair to the ripped jeans he was wearing. It was tempting to join him on the couch and wrap your arms around him, but you knew the gesture wouldn’t be returned. Your chest hurt just thinking about how much things had changed over the last few months.

“Josh, do you still love me?”

You weren’t sure why you asked it. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, or the growing frustration about feeling like you were living with a stranger in your own house. Most of all, you just wanted an answer to the question that had been bothering you since the moment you two arrived in Los Angeles.

“I care about you a lot, Y/N.”

Your breath caught in your throat. A simple “no” would have hurt less.

“That’s not what I asked.”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re drunk. We shouldn’t even be talking about this right now.”

“Just give me an answer, Josh. I’m sober enough that I’ll remember it in the morning.”

“Do I get that feeling in my chest from love when I look at you? No. But I still care about you.”

“Feeling in your chest?” you frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You know,” he held a hand over his chest, “the butterflies and the giddiness and all that. The physical feelings.”

“So what? You’re saying you think love is just some kind of chemical thing?”

“If you break it down to its bare essentials, yeah.”

“You really think that’s all love is?”

“No, you’re twisting my words again,” he said, pointing a finger at you as he stood up from the couch. “I think if you don’t have that feeling at the very core, then it’s hard to fall or stay in love with someone. I know there’s more to love than just a feeling in your chest, but I lost that core feeling for you awhile ago and as much as I tried to love you despite that, I couldn’t make it work.”

“Then why am I still here? Why didn’t you tell me? Do you understand what you’ve done to me? I’m still hopelessly in love with you, Josh. Did you realize that? I spend every night just waiting for you to come home so I can get some fraction of affection while you’re off with other people having the time of your life and not caring about what happens to me.”

“I was still holding out hope that I would get that feeling back, I didn’t mean-”

“Fuck  _ off _ , Josh! I don’t exist for you to toy around with me like that. I’m a person with feelings too and while you were playing around waiting for something that might not come, I was just falling deeper in love with you by the day.” You set your drink down and grabbed at strands of your hair, trying desperately to release some tension. “God, I want to hate you so badly.”

“Would you just listen to me, Y/N? I wasn’t toying around with you for fun. I stayed faithful. I tried to be a good boyfriend. Dammit, I read through all my old journals to try and remember what made me fall in love with you in the first place, but nothing worked, alright? There’s nothing I wanted more than to fall back in love with you, but that feeling was gone and I didn’t know how to get it back. I thought maybe, just maybe, it would come back with time, but it didn’t. I was going to tell you soon… I just didn’t know how.”

“That’s not a decision that you get to make alone.”

“I realize that now and if I could go back I would have done it differently, but-”

“Stop,” you shook your head. “Just stop, Josh. I’ve heard enough.”

You stormed past Josh, trying to ignore the tears that were freely falling down your cheeks. He called out to you once you reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“To get my laptop so I can book a flight back to Ohio and get the fuck away from you.”

You ignored Josh’s pleas as you made your way up the stairs. There was no way you could stand another minute of looking at him, not when your heart still raced and your stomach filled with butterflies when you looked at him. Even after everything he had done and the things he had said, you couldn’t get yourself to hate him. Your feelings ran too deep.

You pushed the thoughts from your mind and focused on the shining laptop screen in front of you. Your only focus right now should be packing your things and getting on the next flight to Columbus, away from the city that was now only full of bad memories and broken hearts.

The lights of Los Angeles just didn’t seem as pretty anymore.


	5. Rough Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1161
> 
> Warnings: The tiniest sprinkle of angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I really like this one and I hope all of you do too :)

Your keys jingled as you tried to open the door to your apartment. It jammed a little, but with some extra force from your shoulder it swung open. Tyler turned to look at you over the back of the couch as you walked in and set your bag down near the door. You took your time kicking your shoes off and loosening the button-down shirt that was part of your office’s dress code.

“How was work?” Tyler asked, using his arm to shift himself up to a sitting position.

“How do you think?” you huffed.

“Here, come sit.”

You shuffled over to the couch and sunk down into the cushions. Tyler scooted closer and motioned for you to sit up. It took a bit of convincing on his part since you had just sat down, but you eventually gave in. As soon as Tyler started to massage your shoulders, you were glad you had gone along with his plan.

“Tell me about your day.”

“Well, it started off with my project manager yelling at me because I forgot to do _one thing_ before I left yesterday, even though I remembered the twenty thousand _other_ things he wanted me to do. Then someone stole my lunch so I had to get a sandwich from the place down the street, which wasn’t that bad, aside from the fact that it cut into my lunch time. And then the rest of work was just boring, as usual.”

“They stole the lunch I made for you?”

“Yes! And I was looking forward to eating it, too,” you frowned.

“I’m really sorry. I can make you another lunch tomorrow,” Tyler said, giving your shoulders a light squeeze. “Did that other guy finally stop bothering you, though?”

“Kinda, but he started bothering another one of our coworkers so I don’t really feel good about it.”

“That’s not your fault, though.”

“I know, but I understand firsthand how annoying it is and I don’t want anyone else to go through that. I’d rather deal with it myself so nobody else has to.”

“You’re too nice, love.”

“My coworkers might not agree,” you laughed.

Tyler gave your shoulders a light pat, signaling that he was done with the massage. You rolled your shoulders a couple times and thanked him.

“I’m going to go change into something more comfortable and then I’ll be back to talk some more, ok?”

“Ok. Did you want me to make you a drink while you’re changing?”

“A hot chocolate, maybe?”

“One hot chocolate, coming right up.”

You shuffled into the bedroom you shared with Tyler and wasted no time stripping off your button-down shirt. Of all the complications that came along with your workplace, the strict dress code had to be one of your least favorites. Not only were you spending eight hours every day doing work that you hated, you were uncomfortable the entire time, too.

Tyler smiled at you as you walked back into the room, now wearing a comfortable pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt. A mug of steaming hot chocolate was sitting on the coffee table.

“How are you feeling now?” he asked.

“Better,” you answered as you fell back onto the couch.

You grabbed your mug from the coffee table and then threw your legs over Tyler’s lap. He lightly traced his fingers along your shins with one hand, the other was busy holding his own mug of hot chocolate.

“How were things here?” you asked, not wanting to keep the conversation on you forever. “Did you figure out more tour stuff?”

Tyler nodded. “I had a conference call with some people and then Josh was over for a little while to get some more details ironed out, but everything is coming together. We’re just waiting on a few more confirmations and then we’re about good to go. Plus, I even got some writing done.”

“Ty, Vessel isn’t even out yet,” you smiled. “The next album is way in the future.”

“Yeah, but it’s never too early to get a headstart.”

You took a long sip of your hot chocolate. It burned the roof of your mouth, but still tasted good.

“When do you leave for tour?”

“A couple weeks, if everything goes as planned. Then we’ll be gone for a few months, I can’t remember the exact timeline.”

“I’m going to miss you,” you pouted, reaching out so that you could hold his free hand. “You’ve never been on a tour before.”

“Well, what if you came with us?”

You stared at Tyler, waiting for the moment when he announced that it was all a joke. That moment never came, Tyler just kept looking at you, waiting for an answer.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“I’m serious,” he smiled.

“But, what about my job? There’s no way we can afford for me to take that time off. Hell, I don’t think my boss would even let me take that time off. I can’t go.”

“Then quit.”

“Quit? Tyler, are you crazy? I can’t just quit my job.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out, Y/N. You can come with us on tour, help sell merch, finally get out of the job that you hate. It’s perfect.”

“And what about the money?” you asked.

“Based on what they projected for our earnings this tour and the album sales, we won’t have to worry about money. Not for awhile, anyway.”

“You’re really serious about this?”

“Of course I’m serious. I love you and I want you to be with me on this journey.”

Tyler barely had time to set his mug down before you were throwing your arms around him and hugging him tightly. Tears were brimming your eyes from the sheer happiness of finally getting to leave behind the job that had been causing you nothing but torment for the past two years. Joining Tyler on tour felt like a dream come true.

“I love you so much,” you whispered into his shoulder. “I want to be with you on this journey, too.”

“You’re going to be. You’re going to be on tour with me,” he repeated, like he almost couldn’t believe it himself. “We’re starting a new life together.”

“I’ll put in my two weeks tomorrow,” you smiled, finally releasing Tyler from your embrace. “That way I’ll be ready to go by the time tour comes around.”

“Perfect,” he grinned back at you. “Now come here.”

Tyler grabbed your face and pulled you into a kiss. You eagerly returned it, unable to keep the wide smile off of your face.

“You taste like hot chocolate,” you giggled.

“So do you.”

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Ty. It means a lot.”

“Thank _you_ for inspiring me to keep working on my music. I wouldn’t be here without you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, love,” he said, giving you one more kiss. “ I can’t wait to always have you by my side.”


	6. People, Not Places

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 829
> 
> Warnings: None
> 
> Author’s Note: I thought you might appreciate some Josh fluff, so here it is :)

“Josh!” you squealed as he wrapped his arms around your waist. The two of you were currently running around the empty arena, essentially playing a game of two-person tag.

“Got you,” he laughed, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

“Ok, ok, I need to sit. Not all of us run marathons.”

Josh kept an arm wrapped around your waist as you walked back towards the stage. You leaned into his side, using him for support as you caught your breath. Now that you no longer had the thrill of Josh chasing after you, the exhaustion was finally catching up to you.

“Can you help me?” you asked, looking up at the stage. There was no way you were making it up there on your own.

“Yeah, you ready?”

“Yep.”

Josh used his hands to boost you up so that you didn’t have to pull yourself up quite as far. You were about to offer to help him up, somehow, when he grabbed onto the edge and pulled himself up no problem. It was hard not to blatantly stare at his arm muscles as he did so, not that it really mattered. Josh was always teasing you about looking at his arms.

“Guess you don’t need my help then,” you smiled as he got comfortable next to you.

“I might have wanted to show off a little bit.”

“Well you looked great while doing it.”

“Thank you.”

Josh returned your smile and kissed you. For just a moment, you forgot that you were sitting on a stage in an empty arena and not at home on your comfy couch. Then a group of crew members wheeled in more equipment and made you jump back from Josh in a brief moment of fear.

“It’s ok,” he said, wrapping his arm around you and pulling you into his side. “It’s just the crew.”

“I know, I guess I just forgot where we were for a second. It felt like we were back at the house on the couch and then all of a sudden there was this loud sound.”

“You forgot where we were?”

“Yeah. It happens sometimes when we, uh, kiss, I guess.”

“I didn’t know about that.”

You started to pick at some strings on your jeans. Talking about your feelings had never been a strength of yours.

“I think it’s because when you kiss me, you’re all that matters, you know? So I kind of tune out everything around me.”

Josh thought for a moment. “I think I do that too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

A comfortable silence fell over the two of you. You idly kicked your legs as you looked around the room, trying to envision what it would look like when it was full of fans. Even after joining the boys on plenty of tours, you never quite got used to what a full arena looked like.

“Is this ever weird for you?” Josh asked, breaking the silence.

You shifted a little so that you could properly look at him. “Is what weird?”

“Like, being on the road all the time instead of being home and not really staying anywhere for very long. I just realized that I’ve never really asked you about it.”

“I’ve never really minded,” you shrugged. “I’ve told you before that my family moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I guess I just taught myself to find that feeling of ‘home’ in people rather than places. When you find someone that feels like home, it doesn’t matter where you go because you always feel that sense of comfort and belonging, even if you’re somewhere totally unfamiliar.”

“Do you feel at home right now?”

“Of course I do. Anywhere that I’m with you feels like home, Josh.”

“Really?” he grinned.

“Yes, really. Actually, I had a feeling pretty much from the moment I met you that you would be important to me. I didn’t expect to fall in love with you - although I’m happy that I did - but I’ve felt comforted around you from the very start.”

“You know, I never really thought about finding home in a person, but now that you mention it, I think that’s exactly what happened when I fell in love with you.”

“I hope I never lose you.”

“You won’t.”

You kissed him again before leaning on his shoulder and wrapping your arms around him. He pulled you a little closer and rested his head on top of yours.

“I love you, Josh.”

“I love you too.”

“I will admit, even though I would go anywhere with you, I do miss movie nights curled up on our couch in blankets.”

Josh laughed quietly. “Me too, but we’ll be home soon enough. Then we can spend a whole week having movie nights to make up for lost time.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Great. I’ll start making a list of movies to watch.”

Josh smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of your head, “Sounds good.”


	7. Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some weird behavior from Tyler leads to a conversation about his insecurities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 709
> 
> Warnings: A bit of possessive!Tyler, angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

You giggled as Tyler pressed a kiss beneath your ear, letting his lips linger a little longer than you thought was necessary. His fingers were digging into your waist, letting you know just how badly he was wishing you were alone right now and not in some partially-secluded hallway of the venue they were playing tonight. As much as you were enjoying this bold side of Tyler, you refused to let your guard totally down in case someone came around the corner.

“Tyler,” you said, a little harsher now. “What are you doing?”

He pulled his mouth away from your neck just long enough to murmur, “Hickey,” before going back to what he was doing. Your hand flew to his chest, gently pushing him away from you.

“Tyler! People are going to see.”

He stepped closer to you so your bodies were pressed together. You were sure that he could feel your heart pounding against your chest.

“That’s the point,” he said, dipping down to kiss your lips this time. “I want people to know you’re mine.”

You indulged the kiss, but didn’t let it go on as long as Tyler would have liked. He frowned when you pulled away.

“I think you’ve made that pretty clear already.”

You reached up and brushed a couple strands of Tyler’s hair out of his face. From the moment that you had arrived at the airport to join the boys on tour for a week, Tyler had barely taken his hands off of you. Even when you were eating a meal on the bus, he made sure to have one of his arms wrapped around your shoulders. He wasn’t normally like this, and you were beginning to wonder if something had happened to make him extra protective of you.

“A little mark on your neck never hurts.”

“Yeah, until a magazine or the fans catch wind of it and I never hear the end of a hickey that I had for two days.”

“It’s barely noticeable,” he said, slipping one of his hands a little further down your hip.

“Alright, what’s going on with you?” you finally asked, crossing your arms in front of your body. “You’re not usually this handsy and I’m beginning to think you’re trying to cover something up.”

Tyler’s grip on you finally loosened, but he kept his hands on you. His expression softened and he bit down on his lip.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing,” you sighed. “Nothing wouldn’t make you act like this.”

He paused, his teeth still gnawing gently on his lower lip. “I’m worried.”

“About what?”

“Losing you,” he breathed. “So I get clingy and start kissing you in hallways and touching you at every chance I get because it reminds me that I still have you. I’m really sorry if it’s been too much.”

You wrapped your arms around Tyler, clasping your hands behind his back. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards at the contact.

“You’re not going to lose me, Tyler.”

“I know I’m not, but I can’t shake the fear. You give me the strength to keep going, especially on my worst days, and the thought of not having you anymore... “ He shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

You leaned forward and pressed your forehead to Tyler’s. “You don’t have to. You’re the love of my life, Tyler, and I couldn’t imagine not having you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

“And you know,” you whispered, moving so your lips were closer to his ear. “I kind of like this possessive side of you.”

“You’re asking for it now,” he laughed, capturing you in another kiss.

You were both so caught up in the kiss that you didn’t notice Josh come around the corner until he was calling both of your names. Tyler pulled away from you immediately, his face now almost entirely bright pink. Josh simply laughed and made a comment about you two being in love as he walked off, ignoring the evident embarrassment on both of your faces.

“Guess we should be a little more careful,” you laughed.

“Maybe,” Tyler grinned.

He gave you one more kiss before lacing his fingers with yours and leading you down the hallway.


	8. Gossip Magazine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A suspicious article leads to a conversation with Josh about the true nature of your relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1044
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

You stared at the magazine sitting in front of you. Pictures of Josh cozied up with a girl were all across the cover, paired with catchy headlines about how this was the first relationship the drummer had seen since his public breakup with an actress a few years ago.

If only they knew.

You sighed and tossed the magazine into one of the coffee table’s drawers where it would be out of sight. There was no point in running your mind in circles over this right now; Josh was on his way over and he would be able to answer all of those questions for you. That is, if you two could even get past the argument about the seriousness of… whatever was going on between the two of you in the first place.

Josh showed up five minutes later. He was smiling as you opened the door, immediately throwing his arms around you and pulling you into his chest. You returned the gesture. A small part of you was happy to finally be back in his arms after he had been away on tour, although you couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that this could be the last time.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

“I’ve missed you too.”

You were the first one to pull away from the hug, using the excuse that you needed to close the front door. Josh smiled and pulled off his jacket, revealing the gray sweater you had helped him pick out on one of your outings together. He knew that you loved that shirt on him, you could tell by the way he was smiling to himself as he set his jacket over the back of one of your chairs.

It’s like he was trying to make this as hard as possible.

“Did you want anything to drink?”

“I think I’m ok,” Josh said as he settled himself on the couch.

“Ok.”

You grabbed yourself a glass of water before joining him in the living room. He seemed relaxed as he sat on the couch, with one arm slung over the back and one leg crossed over the other. His eyebrows furrowed when you took a seat on the opposite end of the couch.

“What are you doing all the way over there? You’re usually so cuddly when I get back.”

“Josh, we need to talk about something.”

His relaxed posture was gone in an instant. He scooted closer and rested a hand just above your knee, rubbing his thumb in small circles. You set your water down on the table and began to nervously rub at your palm, hoping to alleviate some of the nerves you were feeling.

“What’s going on?”

“I need to know what this is between us. I know we’ve avoided putting a label on it up until this point because it was easier, but I think you and I both fell a lot harder than we meant to and this whole ‘only acting like a couple when you’re in town’ act just isn't cutting it anymore.”

Josh bit down on his lip, letting it slowly release from between his teeth. “I know what you mean, and I don’t know that I have an answer for you.”

“What do you want us to be?”

His thumb stilled on your leg. You watched his expression shift as he continued to play with his bottom lip, thinking over an answer. Each moment that he stayed quiet was making you more nervous.

“I want us to be together. All the time, not just when I’m in Ohio.”

“How long have you felt that way?”

“A long time.”

“Then how do you explain this, Josh?”

You reached forward and pulled open the drawer of the coffee table, grabbing the gossip magazine that you had tossed in there earlier. His face immediately fell as you dropped it on the couch in between you.

“There’s a reasonable explanation, Y/N. I swear.”

“Then I want to hear it, because I don’t understand how you can claim to be in love with me and then run around with other people the moment that you’re no longer in the same town as me. I put off this conversation for a long time because we never really put a title on our relationship, but it hurts, Josh. A lot.”

He swallowed hard before he began to speak. “Like you said, we both fell a lot harder than we meant to, but there was still a part of me that was convinced you only wanted to keep things casual. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to call you when I was away and tell you that I loved you, but I didn’t want to scare you off, so I turned to other people to distract me. Nothing was ever serious and it never got past a date or two because my mind never stopped running back to you.”

Your mind tuned out the second that the words “I loved you” escaped Josh’s lips. Despite the countless hours you two had spent together, neither of you had ever dared to say those words out loud. Hearing them now had your heart pounding in your chest.

“You love me?”

Josh’s eyes went wide as he realized what he said. He started to backtrack, but you stopped him by resting a hand on his cheek and turning his face towards you.

“Ok, yeah, I do,” he sighed. “I know, that’s probably too much but-”

“Josh. I love you too.”

“You what?”

“I love you too.”

“Really?”

You nodded, giving Josh enough time to pull you towards him in a kiss. It was far from the first time it had happened, but knowing that Josh shared your feelings - your _true_ feelings - made it feel like the first time all over again.

“I’m sorry I ever made you doubt how I felt about you,” he whispered. His nose was still pressed against yours, his lips still nearly brushing against yours when he spoke. “I should have told you how I felt from the beginning.”

“It’s ok. You were scared and so was I. We just wanted to hold onto what we had.”

“But now we don’t need to worry about losing it,” he smiled.

“Not anymore.”


	9. Turn Back the Clock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 961
> 
> Warnings: Pure angst
> 
> Author’s Note: The POV is a little weird in this one, but I feel like it fit the story best as I was writing it! Also sorry for the sad fic, but I figured it had been awhile since I posted something angst like this! I hope you enjoy :)

The music was loud as the boys sat huddled over Tyler’s phone on the tour bus couch, scrolling through old photos and laughing about memories they had associated with them. Most of the other crew members were nearby, having a snack or enjoying a post-show nap to celebrate another success.

“Is that from the night that I snapped my drumstick in half and nearly took out a light?” Josh asked, barely able to get the entire sentence out before he began to laugh.

“Yeah!” Tyler joined in on his laughter. “And I was so distracted that I bumped into the piano and had that bruise on my hip for weeks.”

“Oh man, that bruise was gnarly.”

“There’s probably a picture of it in here somewhere.”

“We’ll get to it eventually. What else you got?”

Tyler scrolled to the next picture and immediately felt his heart sink. It was one of you and him that you had taken after a show. His nose was pressed to the side of your face as he tried to kiss you; the laughter on your face was evident. He stared at it for a moment before quickly swiping away, silently hoping that Josh hadn’t noticed his hesitation.

“Wow, who let me wear that shirt on stage?” Josh laughed, but it didn’t feel the same as it did a few minutes ago. Tyler’s mind had started down a one-track path and he knew there was no going back now.

“I don’t know, we both made some interesting fashion choices.” He locked his phone and set it down in his lap. Josh must have noticed his change in demeanor, because he reached out and put a hand on Tyler’s back, giving it a couple reassuring pats. He was desperately grasping at happy memories, trying to get himself back into the joyful mentality he had, but nothing seemed to be working. “I think I’m going to head to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He got up before Josh had a chance to protest what he was doing. Tears were already brimming in his eyes and that was not a state that he wanted his friends to see him in. As soon as he was behind a closed door, he collapsed onto the bed and buried his face in the pillow so that nobody would accidentally hear his shaky intakes of breath.

It had been a year since you and him had mutually decided to call things off. Neither of you had been particularly fond of the idea, but between Tyler being on tour all the time and you having to stay home for work, you decided it would be for the best if you put a temporary end to your relationship.

Or at least, Tyler _hoped_ it would be temporary.

He slowly pulled his phone back out of his pocket and opened it back up to the picture of the two of you. There were only a small handful that he still had on his phone, most of them he had backed up onto his computer, stuck them away in a folder so that they were hard to get to, and then deleted them off his phone so he didn’t have to deal with the reminders. The only ones he kept were the ones that had too many good memories attached for him to totally wipe off his phone.

His eyes took in every detail of your face while he thought about that night. You had told him you wouldn’t be able to make it, and then surprised him right before the show. He could still remember the exact feeling of butterflies and happiness that had been in his stomach the entire time. After the show, you had walked around the streets of Columbus and wandered down to the river. It was the same night that he said “I love you” for the first time under the light of a streetlamp next to the water.

He locked his phone and stared up at the ceiling. His vision was clouded by tears, but he let them sit there. There was no point in trying to get the tears out of his eyes, it wouldn’t be long before he began to cry again, anyway. A million questions were running through his mind as he laid there.

If you had really loved him, would you have tried harder to make things work? Should he have fought harder to make you stay? Would he ever have a second chance?

He knew there was a way for him to get the answers he needed. Your number was still saved in his phone, and you had even talked a few times since calling things off. You two had tried to maintain a friendship since you both still cared so deeply for one another, but the wound of the breakup being so fresh in your minds made it difficult. It had been a few weeks since the last time you talked, and even if he didn’t get the answers he wanted, it might be nice to hear your voice again.

No. There was no way he could do that to himself. Not tonight. Just thinking about your voice made his stomach twist and his eyes squeeze shut. He could still hear all the things that you said to him so clearly and it made his chest tight. There was nothing in the world that he wouldn’t give just to hear you say you loved him one more time. Maybe he would call tomorrow when his head was clear and he didn’t have to worry about something as simple as you saying hello sending him into a spiral.

For now, he just needed to lay here and let himself dwell on the past for awhile. 


	10. Letters You Never Meant To Send

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1983
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

You grabbed the last box from the top of the closet and dropped it onto the ground, bringing down a fresh wave of dust with it. You immediately pulled your shirt up over your nose as you fanned it away from where you were going to sit to actually sort through the contents of the box. There was no way you were going to spend the next twenty minutes sneezing on top of looking through papers and pictures that would undoubtedly bring up emotional memories.

When the dust finally settled, you sat cross legged on the ground next to the box and pulled off the top. You were immediately met with a stack of old polaroids. They had been given to you by a close friend when you first announced that you would be moving to Ohio. It had always been your intention to hang them up in your new house, but they brought up too many memories during the first few months of being away from home and you never got around to it. Maybe you would actually put them up somewhere in your new house.

After taking some time to flip through the pictures, you continued to move through the box. There were all sorts of treasures inside: old school projects, too many birthday cards for you to count, old movie and concert tickets, and other scraps of paper that you hardly remembered the significance of. You took your time looking through all of it, deciding what was worth keeping and what you could let go of.

Something at the bottom of the box caught your interest as you were sifting through another stack of photos. It looked like a manila envelope, but you couldn’t for the life of you remember what you had stuck in it. You carefully pulled it out from beneath the rest of the contents and looked at it. The only thing on the outside was a bit of dust; there was nothing else indicating what was inside. Curiosity piqued, you undid the little clasp and opened it up.

Your stomach dropped as you got your first glimpse of the papers inside the envelope. It was a collection of letters that you had written for your boyfriend, detailing how you felt about him. Your eyes started to well up a little bit as you skimmed some of the pages.

_You kissed me for the first time today. I’ve never felt anything like it. I swear there were sparks in every part of my body, going off like little fireworks. I wanted to kiss you again and again and again but I got too nervous to actually do it_.

You flipped to another page.

_I think I’m falling in love with you. When people said they get tunnel vision whenever they look at someone they love, I thought it was an exaggeration. Then I met you. I swear nothing else matters when you’re around, Josh. You smile at me and the rest of the world just fades away_.

Your heart sunk as you continued to read the letters, remembering the way he had made you feel.

_Today officially marks one month since you left for tour. We’re on FaceTime right now, but you have no idea that I’m writing this. It’s hard to focus when you keep smiling at me through the screen because my heart starts to beat so fast that my hands shake and I can’t keep these words straight. It’s hard to be away from you, but I know that you’ll be home soon. I can’t wait to be in your arms again and fall asleep next to you while we watch The X-Files for the hundredth time. I love you._

You set the letters down in your lap and wiped a few tears away from your eyes. It had been easy to forget how much Josh had meant to you when you had tucked all the memories away, but the cut he had left still ran deep. There had never been an official end to your relationship. The two of you had just steadily grown apart over time until one day, you just stopped talking entirely. You would give anything just to talk to him one more time and get answers to all your questions.

You began to put away all the letters once again and told yourself the only reason your eyes were watering was because of all the dust you had kicked up. Your relationship with Josh was over and the sooner you wrote it off as good memories and nothing more, the better off you would be.

Unless…

You all but tossed the envelope down onto the floor and ran into the living room where your laptop was still sitting on the couch. Your fingers flew across the screen, eager to find out when Josh and Tyler would be playing in Columbus again. If you remembered correctly, the next show was soon. Although Josh wasn’t an important person in your life anymore - at least, not outwardly - you still liked to keep up with what he was doing. It made you feel close to him, in a way.

Google confirmed your suspicions: they would be playing a show nearby in just under a week. Without a moment’s hesitation, you bought the cheapest ticket you could find and texted your friends that you would need to bail on dinner plans.

There was something more important you had to attend to.

* * *

You tried to appear as confident as possible as you strode up to the security guard standing in front of the entrance to the backstage area. He eyed you carefully as you approached him with squared shoulders and a determined look on your face.

“I need to see Josh Dun,” you stated.

“Do you have a pass?”

“Well… no.”

“Then that isn’t happening.”

You clenched your jaw. “Please. It’s really important.”

“I’m sure it is, but I can’t let you backstage without authorization.”

“Sir, you don’t understand. He’s my ex-boyfriend and I really need to speak to him about something,” you said, trying not to let too much desperation seep into your voice.

“I understand perfectly fine. I’m not supposed to let anyone backstage without authorization, which you do not have. I cannot let you through.”

“It won’t take long, I promise. I just need five minutes.”

“If you do not leave this area in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to call security to have you removed.”

You were past trying to remain calm now. This was your only chance to finally work things out with Josh and you weren’t about to let it be thrown away because of a security guard.

“Then please just go get him! I promise he’ll know who I am. I just really need to talk to him about something.”

“Hey, what’s going on?”

Your heart nearly stopped beating in your chest at the sound of his voice.

“This individual says they needed to see you, but they don’t have any authorization so I can’t let them through.”

“Y/N?”

Josh finally stepped into your view, allowing you to get a good look at him. He looked pretty much the same as the last time you had seen him, aside from the color of his hair. Despite being apart from him for so long, your stomach still filled with butterflies the same way it had a year ago.

“Um, hi.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you, if that’s ok.”

“Um, sure. You can let them through.”

“You sure?” the security guard asked.

“Yeah.”

“Alright.”

The security guard gestured for you to pass him. You gave him a forced smile as you stepped around him and came face to face with Josh.

“You want to go to my dressing room?” he asked.

“Sure.”

The walk was silent. You didn’t really blame Josh for not knowing what to say. It wasn’t every day that your ex - who wasn’t _really_ your ex - showed up at your show, got into an argument with a security guard, and then asked to talk to you out of the blue.

“So… why are you here?” he asked as he shut the door.

“Well, um, this might be kind of weird, but I was looking through old boxes last week and I stumbled across some letters that I wrote to you when we were… together. It just got me thinking about how things ended and how we never really got closure, so I guess I wanted to see you so we could finally formally end things. You know, for peace of mind.”

“You wrote me letters?”

“Yeah, they’re pretty sappy.” You forced a laugh. “I was saving them to give to you on a special occasion.”

Someone knocked on the door. You expected Josh to go answer it, but he didn’t.

“Not right now! Give me ten minutes.”

“Ok.”

“Sorry about that. Anyway, you were saying?”

“It’s not important,” you waved him off. “Um, I guess there was just one question that I wanted to ask.”

“Sure.”

“Why _didn’t_ we ever formally end things?”

Josh, who had previously had his back to you, finally turned around to face you. He had crossed his arms across his chest and his lips were tightly pressed together.

“Do you want my honest answer?”

“Of course.”

“When we really started to drift apart, you know, back in May?” You nodded. “I was going to call you and put an official end to it, because I thought that was what you would want, but I kept putting it off because I was busy and nervous. By the time that I finally worked up the courage to do it, we were only talking like once a week and I figured it just wasn’t even worth it at that point.”

“Why were you nervous? We both knew things were going downhill at that point, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but I think I was holding out hope that they would get better again. I really wanted to stay with you, Y/N, but I was still figuring out how to balance a huge tour and a relationship and all this publicity and I did not put nearly as much effort as I should have into my relationship with you. I still regret that.”

“It’s ok, Josh. There was a lot happening all at once. I’m just glad that I have answers now so that I can stop worrying about if I did something wrong.”

“Not at all.”

You nodded. When Josh didn’t say anything else, you stood up straight and started to walk towards the door.

“That’s all I needed to ask, so I guess I’ll be going now. I know you and Tyler are busy.”

“Wait, Y/N.”

You stopped with your hand on the door handle and turned to look at Josh. From where you were standing on the opposite side of the room, you could still just make out the pink color of his cheeks.

“Would you maybe, um, want to try things out again?” he asked, rubbing at his neck.

You answered by running across the room and jumping into his arms. He caught you and spun you around, holding onto you tightly as he buried his face into your neck.

“Of course I would.”

“Weird, I thought you were jumping into my arms because you didn’t want to,” he laughed.

“I see we’re right back to the teasing.”

“I’ve missed seeing the face you make when I tease you.”

You stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Josh leaned down and kissed you. Your body immediately erupted into fireworks the moment that his lips pressed against your own. It was like kissing him for the first time all over again.

“I promise I’m never going to make the mistake of losing you again,” he smiled.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you.”


	11. Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1398
> 
> Warnings: Angst, arguments, & insults
> 
> Author’s Note: Where Did We Go (Book Three of Rose Colored Boy) starts a week from today, so I hope all of you are ready for that! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one :)

You carefully balanced the lunch you had made for Tyler on one hand as you made your way down to the basement, being extra careful not to spill the Red Bull you had cracked open for him all over the stairs. The sound of Tyler messing with his computer and shuffling papers around steadily became louder as you grew closer to the door.

“Ty!” you called. “Can I come in?”

There was some grumbling before your question was met with a gruff, “Yeah.”

You carefully balanced the Red Bull on the plate so that your hand was free to open the door. Tyler didn’t turn around as you entered the room, his attention was too focused on his keyboard. He normally paused what he was doing when you came down to see him, but you shrugged it off. There was probably just an idea in his head that he didn’t want to forget.

“I made you lunch,” you said softly, setting the food down on an untouched part of his desk. “You’ve been down here awhile, so I thought you might be hungry.”

“Thanks.”

You stood at the end of Tyler’s desk a little longer, waiting to see if he would say anything else. He just continued to play his keyboard, acting as if you weren’t even in the room.

“Ok, well, I’m going to go back upstairs now.”

Before you left, you walked closer to where Tyler was sitting and bent down to kiss him. When he didn’t turn to give you a proper kiss, you settled for a quick peck to his temple before starting to leave the room. Your lips had just barely touched his skin when he pulled away and finally looked at you.

“Is it not obvious that I want space right now?” he snapped.

A chill ran down your spine. Tyler rarely raised his voice at you because he knew you hated it, so the fact that he was doing it now over seemingly nothing was quickly pushing you over the edge. You swallowed down the lump in your throat.

“I’m sorry.”

“You do this every day!” he continued, ignoring your apology. “You come down here like six times while I’m trying to get work done and start talking my ear off when I pretty clearly don’t want to hear it and you never pick up on hints that I want you to leave until I outright tell you and it throws me off my rhythm every time. I would get so much more done if you would just leave me alone.”

You wiped a tear away from your cheek while you waited for any more insults that Tyler was going to throw at you. As much as you wanted to write off his actions as a result of stress, you couldn’t help the physical pain in your chest from his words.

“Fine.”

Without another word, you turned and walked out of the basement, using all the self control you had to not slam the door as you left. You were determined to make it upstairs and out of the house - and ideally, to your destination - without completely losing your cool, but each time Tyler’s words ran through your head a fresh wave of tears brimmed your eyes.

If Tyler wanted space, that’s exactly what you would give him.

* * *

It had been nearly a week since your fight, if you could even call it that, with Tyler and you hadn't heard a single word from him. You were beginning to think that you would have to be the one to break the silence, even if it was just to ask him when you should be by to pick up your things. At this point, you weren’t sure what hurt more: the initial fight or the fact that he hadn’t reached out to see if you were ok since then.

You refilled your mug with a fresh cup of coffee and took a seat on the couch. Your friend had already left for work for the day, leaving you in their quiet house. It had been nice the first few days, but now it was just giving you too much time to think. So much so, in fact, that when your phone started ringing you didn’t immediately reach for it because you were so wrapped up in your own head.

“Hello?” you answered, expecting to be met with the silence of some automated call.

“Y/N?”

The sound of Tyler’s voice sent a chill down your spine. It was weird to hear him say something quietly after reliving the sound of him yelling so often over the last few days.

“What?” Your tone was harsh, unwilling to allow yourself to be hurt by him again.

“Can you come home, please? I really miss you.”

“Are we going to talk about what happened?”

“Yes. There’s a lot of things that I need to say to you, but I don’t want to do it over the phone.”

“Ok, I’ll pack up my stuff and be home soon.”

“Drive safe.”

“I will.”

There was a pause. For a moment, you thought he had hung up, but then he spoke softly through the phone.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

Tyler sat a few feet away from you, nervously tapping his fingers against the edge of his cup. The two of you had only exchanged a few words since you arrived back at the house. You were letting him guide the conversation, since there was no way you were going to give him an apology until you got one from him first.

He finally cleared his throat. You stopped staring out a nearby window and looked at him.

“I’m so sorry,” he started. It took him a moment to finally work up the courage to meet your eyes. “For everything I said. I was under a lot of stress, which is by no means an excuse for what I did, and I took it out on you. I regretted it immediately, but by the time I was ready to admit that, you were already gone.”

“Why didn’t you reach out, then?”

“I was scared and embarrassed. I had no idea what was going on through your head and I was afraid that I had messed things up for good, so I just didn’t reach out to you. I guess I thought it was easier to let it eat me up inside instead of just asking.”

“I’m not gonna lie, Tyler, the things you said really hurt. I check in so often because I know you’re not always the best about taking care of yourself so I want to make sure you’re eating and getting rest and not overworking yourself.”

“No, I know,” he shook his head. “I hate that I got upset about that because it’s not true. I look forward to when you come down to see me because it always gives me the strength to get just a little bit more done and I would be in a way worse state if it weren’t for you looking out for me. I was just frustrated that one day and blew it way out of proportion and I’m so sorry. I’m never going to forgive myself for that.” You held your hands out to him. He happily slid his fingers between yours and pulled you a little closer to him. “Especially because I didn’t take the time that day to tell you how much I love you. Or how much you mean to me. Or how knowing that when I’m done for the day, I get to come upstairs to you is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going. _That’s_ what I should be telling you and I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you doubt that.”

“I appreciate the apology, Ty. I only want the best for you, but I understand how that can be a little overwhelming when you’re stressed. I’ll try to be more aware of that in the future. I love you so much.”

“I love you too. I’m glad we were able to work this out.”

“Me too.”

He pulled you into a kiss and you wrapped your arms around him, immediately curling up against him once he pulled away.

“Never let me go another day without telling you I love you, ok?” he whispered.

You smiled against his chest. “Deal.”


	12. Fade With Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: ex!Josh Dun x Reader technically, but really more of Tyler x Josh friendship
> 
> Word Count: 1400
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: The first fic of the year/decade! I hope you enjoy this one :)

I watched as the distant lights of the next city we were playing in grew steadily closer. I had always liked seeing the skylines of new places. The blanket around my shoulders was slipping, washing my shoulders with cold air, but my attention was too focused on the outside world to care. Maybe if I stared long enough, I could forget all the other things that were bothering me too.

It had been only a couple weeks since Y/N had broken things off with me, just before the start of the latest tour. Had it not been for my busy schedule between rehearsals and my flight to Ohio, I was sure that the end of the relationship would have broken me. I was so sure that they were the one for me, but evidently they hadn’t felt the same. The words they had said before they left still echoed in my head.

_I love you, Josh, but I can’t do this anymore._

If they had loved me, why hadn’t they stayed?

My daydream was interrupted by the sound of someone getting out of their bunk. I quickly drew the blanket back up around my shoulders, holding it tight around me for a sense of security. With bated breath, I sat and listened for whoever it was. I hoped they would go back to bed without noticing me, allowing me to escape another conversation about how I had been feeling lately. Everyone on the bus - hell, everyone on the _crew_ \- knew I hadn’t been myself lately, although I would never admit to that.

Tyler stepped through the curtain a short time later. He rubbed at his eyes with one hand, not yet noticing me. His feet made hardly any sound as he walked over to our little makeshift kitchen and grabbed the cup marked with his name. He glanced around before turning on the tap and filling it up. I stayed quiet, thinking that I might actually be able to get through this without Tyler noticing me on the couch.

Tyler shut off the tap and turned, leaning his back against the counter. He had just brought the cup to his lips when his eyes landed on me, huddled on the couch. His chest rose and fell slowly: a sigh. I already knew what this meant.

“I didn’t even see you there,” Tyler said as he shuffled over towards the couch. It was an innocent start to a conversation that would end up going much deeper. “What are you doing up? It’s like three in the morning.”

“I could ask you the same,” I asked. My walls were up.

“Bad dream and a sore throat.” Tyler held up his cup for emphasis. “Alright, what lie have you got for me today?”

I turned back towards the window. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Josh, why are you lying to me, man?”

“I’m not lying.”

“You’ve had bags under your eyes all week, you’re nearly asleep during every sound check, and I’ve watched you chug no less than two Red Bulls before every show. I think your problem is that you don’t _want_ to sleep, not that you _can’t_.”

“Why does it matter, anyway?”

Tyler set his cup down on the small ledge beneath the window and reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m fine.”

“Josh, you’re not fine.”

I clenched my jaw to stop it from shaking. Tears were already pooling in my eyes, so I leaned forward and rested my chin on my hands, making it harder for Tyler to notice. The lights in the distance were twinkling, but as the tears continued to come, they became blurrier until they were just streaks of light in my vision.

“No. I’m not.”

“Will you talk to me about what’s going on?”

“I just don’t know what to do. I can’t stop thinking about Y/N, no matter how much I try. I never realized how intertwined our lives were until they left, and now I just find traces of them everywhere I look. It’s easier to let myself fall apart and avoid the reminders than to actually try. It’s like…” I paused and swallowed hard. Tyler rubbed my back. “When I used to be stressed or I couldn’t sleep, they used to have me lay on their chest and listen to their heartbeat and eventually the rhythms would match up and I would calm down. Now I lay alone in my bunk and I can hear my heartbeat echoing in my ears and it’s just another painful reminder. They’re everywhere I look, Tyler.”

“I know it’s hard, but those feelings will fade with time. You just have to push through them and make new memories, then before you know it, that’s the first thing to come to mind.”

“I guess.”

“Hey, when was the last time you ate?” I shrugged. There wasn’t a proper meal that I could remember, just snacks whenever I felt like I needed one. “Alright, let’s change that.”

I sat quietly while Tyler got up and made me a sandwich. He hummed quietly as he did so, but not loud enough to wake anyone else that was sleeping. I appreciated the noise, it gave me something to focus on other than the endless cycle of thoughts in my head.

“Here,” Tyler said, passing me a plate as he sat back down on the couch. “Eat.”

“I’m not that hungry,” I mumbled.

“That wasn’t a question, Josh. Besides, it’s your favorite, so you might as well enjoy it.”

I stared down at the sandwich for a moment before finally picking it up and taking a bite. I chewed slowly and eventually swallowed, made difficult by the lump that was still in my throat. As much as I hated to admit it, the food tasted good.

“We’re not going to let you keep wearing yourself down, Josh. Can you at least agree to trying to take small steps to help yourself out?”

I nodded slowly, taking another bite of sandwich. Tyler was right about needing to take care of myself. My complete opposition to doing so had only made the last couple of weeks harder.

“Good.”

Tyler sat quietly with me while I finished up my sandwich, then helped me off the couch and back towards my bunk. After my meal and a break from my thoughts, my eyelids were starting to grow heavy, though the idea of laying down to sleep still scared me. The quiet of the bus gave me too much room to think.

“Get comfortable, I’m going to go grab something,” Tyler whispered. I nodded and carefully got up into my bunk, trying my best not to disturb Mark beneath me. He was a heavy sleeper, anyway.

Tyler returned thirty seconds later with a pair of headphones and my phone. He handed only the headphones to me and motioned for me to put them on.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Making sure you’re able to get some sleep tonight.”

He took the other end of the cord and plugged it into my phone. I waited patiently while he clicked and scrolled, obviously on the hunt for something specific.

Quiet music began to play a short time later. It was instrumental, but had enough rhythm and beat to it that it would keep me distracted as I tried to sleep. Tyler, obviously pleased with himself, looked up to me with a smile.

“How is that?” he asked.

“Good,” I nodded. “Thanks.”

“Will you be able to sleep?”

“I think so.”

“Alright. Is there anything else you need?” he said, finally passing my phone to me.

“No.”

“Then I’m going to head back to bed. We do have a big show to play tomorrow, after all.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

I waited until Tyler was safely in his bunk to draw my curtain closed and close my eyes. The soft music quickly began to lull me into a deep sleep. It was the first night in weeks that I managed to fall asleep without tears in my eyes.

And I was determined to make sure it wasn’t the last.


	13. A Scary Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 994
> 
> Warnings: Angst, anxiety attack
> 
> Author’s Note: I know today isn’t typically a day that I post, but due to the large number of fics that I still have to post before the challenge deadline in March, there will be fics on both Saturday & Sunday for the next few weeks! (Some days might even have two in a day, but I’ll try not to overwhelm all of you with content) Anyway, that’s why you’re seeing this fic today, and I hope you enjoy it! :)

“Ty, I can see you staring,” you giggled.

“How? You’re not even looking at me!”

“I can see you out of the corner of my eye.”

“No way.”

“Then how else would I have known you were staring?” you smiled, turning to look at him.

“Maybe you’re just magic or something.”

You shook your head, unable to contain your laughter. Tyler grinned as he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on your cheek.

“I wish.”

“I’ll be right back,” Tyler said as he got up from the couch.

“Ok.”

You watched as Tyler climbed the stairs up to the second floor. Once he disappeared around the corner, you returned to the book you were reading. Maybe if you finished the chapter before he got back, you could talk him into cuddling with you.

“Y/N!”

Your book was snapped closed and on the coffee table in an instant. Even with the distance between you, you could hear the desperation in Tyler’s voice. It sent a pang of discomfort through your chest as you took the stairs up two at a time.

You found Tyler in his bedroom with his back pressed to the wall. His hands were in his hair, clawing at strands of it. Though his face was somewhat blocked from your view by his arms, the parts you could see were contorted in pain. You bent down next to him and reached out to grab his arms, gently pulling them towards you.

“Tyler, what’s going on?”

He shook his head, keeping his eyes squeezed shut. When your hands finally connected with his, he held on tightly, as if you would slip away from him if he let go.

“I can’t do this,” he muttered. “I can’t. I can’t.”

“You can’t do what?”

“I can’t do it.”

“Tyler, hey. Deep breaths. I’m right here. Talk when you’re ready.”

“Hold me, please.”

You sat with your arms around Tyler until his tears finally stopped and his breathing slowly evened out. Once he had calmed down, you two moved to the bed so that it would be more comfortable to sit.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, burying his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean to scare you. A lot happened all at once.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah, I just… I don’t want it to come across the wrong way.”

You chewed nervously on the inside of your cheek, trying your best to keep a brave face on for Tyler’s sake. It was obvious that he needed you to be the strong one right now, even despite your own reservations.

“Just explain it however you need to, we can talk it out,” you said, holding out a hand for him to hold.

He laced his fingers between yours and held tightly to your hand. It was subtle, but you could just barely feel the way that he was shaking. You tightened your grip, hoping that the pressure would help alleviate some of how he was feeling.

“I really don’t know how to explain this.”

“Just try.”

Tyler was playing with his bottom lip, something you had only seen him do a small handful of times before. His eyes were fixated on the ground, which was doing nothing to help your own growing anxieties. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and began to speak.

“I love you, Y/N. I love you more than life itself, to the point that the thought of losing you makes my chest get tight and my hands shake and my mind starts to race. I never wanted it to happen. I didn’t want to fall in love, because the idea of giving so much of myself to someone, including the ability to completely ruin me, was terrifying. And then I met you and I knew the battle was lost from the moment I laid eyes on you. You stole my heart with a smile and there was no getting it back. You make me the happiest guy alive, but I’m scared. I can’t deny that.”

“Tyler… come here.” You held your arms out and he happily curled up against your chest. He was still shaking, so you wrapped your arms as tightly around him as you could. “I love you so much and I’m never going to leave you. You mean so much to me and I’m not willing to throw that away. Ever. I know it takes a lot to love someone and trust them with everything you have, but I promise that you can put your trust in me.”

“I’m trying. I really am.” You pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head. He sniffled and shifted closer to you. “Would it be dorky of me to tell you that sometimes I’m overwhelmed by how much I love you?”

“Only if it would be dorky of me to tell you that the same thing happens to me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It happens more often than I’d like to admit, actually.”

“Me too.”

You smiled and ran your hands through Tyler’s hair. He relaxed further into you as you started to do this, which you took as a sign not to stop.

“How are you feeling, Ty?”

“Better. I’m really sorry that this came out all at once. I’ve been trying to hide it, but you looked so pretty sitting downstairs and I got overwhelmed and then it all came crashing down at once.”

“It’s ok, Tyler. I’m glad you told me so that I know now and we can work through this if it comes up again in the future. I never want you to be scared of me.”

“I’m not scared of you, just the way you make me feel.”

“Same thing,” you laughed quietly. “But you don’t need to be.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Good.”

“I love you, Y/N.”

You smiled and leaned your head against his. “I love you too, Ty, with my whole heart.”


	14. Elevator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1096
> 
> Warnings: Angst, arguments
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

Your calves started to burn as you followed after Josh, trying - and nearly failing - to keep up with his long strides. Cool wind whipped at your cheeks and slipped up the sleeves of your sweatshirt, sprouting goosebumps all along your arms. Josh had his hood pulled up over his head, hiding his typically bright green hair. You picked up your pace, hoping to get close enough that you could talk to him without yelling over the wind.

“Josh, can you please slow down? My legs are starting to hurt.”

Your question was met with silence. The deep breath you took to try and alleviate the pain only made your lungs burn from the icy chill. You pulled your sweatshirt up over your mouth and nose, hoping the warm fabric would help the sting.

With each aching step, you started to grow frustrated. The rest of the crew had gone out bowling to celebrate another successful show, but you had bailed to instead go back to the hotel with Josh, thinking that once you two were alone he would actually open up to you about why he was upset. Instead, you had only been met with silence and him nearly jogging his way back to the hotel, leaving you scrambling to catch up.

He hadn’t been this way all night. In fact, the two of you had been getting along pretty well up until dinner, playfully nudging one another and cracking jokes. It was just like any other day. Then you had said something at dinner and Josh’s whole demeanor changed, his smile wiped in an instant. You couldn’t even remember it now, it had seemed so insignificant at the time. Had you known it was going to be such a big deal, you never would have said it.

By the time you finally stepped through the front doors into the hotel lobby, your nose was thoroughly running and any exposed bits of your skin had been turned bright red by the wind. Josh didn’t even slow down as he crossed the floor towards the elevators, obviously eager to put as much space between you and him as he could. You only stopped to breathe for a moment before following after him; the second that he got himself behind a locked hotel door, you knew any chance of talking this out was gone.

You barely managed to catch the elevator doors as they closed, making your frozen hands sting from the contact. Josh watched you carefully as you stepped in and leaned against the wall, tucking your hands back up inside your sleeves to warm them up faster.

“What floor?” he muttered.

“Nine. Same as you.”

Josh punched the button again, even though it was already glowing a faint yellow. You watched him, waiting to see if he would say anything else, but he didn’t even turn enough to make eye contact with you. Deciding that enough was enough, you gave in and spoke first.

“Alright, are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

“Nothing is going on.”

“Don’t play that game with me, Josh. I just followed you half a mile back to the hotel in the freezing cold while you didn’t so much as look at me because I _knew_ something was wrong, so you might as well tell me now.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“God, sorry that I care about you, I guess.”

“Do you care about me?” Josh said. His voice was raised now and he had turned to look at you. After seeing the look in his eyes, you almost wished that he hadn’t. “Because you sure didn’t seem to care about my feelings when you laughed off the possibility of us ever being more than friends.”

“It was a joke, Josh! We make jokes like that all the time!”

“No. _You_ make jokes like that all the time.”

You started to bunch up your sleeves even tighter in your fists, relieving only a small portion of the tension you were feeling. As much as you wanted to scream at him, you knew you could never do that to Josh. That, and you were in an elevator.

“Why does it even matter so much to you?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Apparently.”

“I’m in love with you, Y/N.” His voice dropped back to a normal volume after his confession. “And I’ve been trying to show that to you all week, but every move I try to make just gets brushed off as a normal friendly interaction by you. I was planning to tell you tonight, but then you made that comment at dinner and it killed any confidence that I had, but here we are anyway.”

The anger you had been feeling just a moment ago was gone, replaced by adrenaline or something else that you couldn’t quite place. Your brain was grasping for something, anything, to say in response to him, but it couldn’t find the right thing. Instead, you did the only thing that you _could _think to do.

Josh’s lips were cold as you crashed yours against them. He was taken aback at first - you could tell by how stiff his body was - but once everything clicked into place, he relaxed and dug his fingers into the thick fabric of your sweatshirt, pulling you closer. You deepened the kiss, letting your fingers get tangled in the dark strands of hair near the nape of his neck.

Neither of you pulled away until the elevator dinged, signaling that you had finally arrived at the ninth floor. You briefly considered hitting another floor so that you and Josh would have a moment longer together, but figured there was too much risk of other people getting on. Your cheeks were burning as you untangled yourself from Josh and stepped out into the hall.

“Listen, I’m sorry for making all those jokes, Josh. I never meant to upset you.”

“It’s ok, you had no way of knowing.”

You nodded and rocked back and forth on your heels, trying to figure out what would happen next. Josh’s room was at the opposite end of the hall from yours, but you weren’t exactly looking to put an end to the night yet.

“So,” you drew out the word. “Now what?”

Josh pressed his lips together, though it did next to nothing to hide his sly smile.

“Room service dessert and cheesy movies in my hotel room?” he asked, gesturing over his shoulder.

You smiled, immediately wrapping yourself around Josh and leaning into his side. “Deal.”


	15. Genuine Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1556
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

“I don’t know,” you sighed, examining the chipped polish on your nails. “Don’t you think that I’m rushing into this all too fast? I mean, it’s been a month and I already think I’m in love with him.”

“Why is that such a bad thing, Y/N?” your friend asked.

“You know how I am, I think I’m in love with someone and then I change my mind and the whole thing goes down in flames. Tyler is a nice guy and I really don’t want to do that to him, especially after the way that he’s treated me over the last month. He doesn’t deserve that.”

“Why are you so sure that it’s going to end badly?”

“Because it always does, no matter how hard I try to prevent it.”

“Can I be honest with you?”

You didn’t particularly like where this was going, but you also knew there wasn’t a way for you to get out of it that didn’t involve just ending the call. After giving your friend a reluctant yes, you wandered over towards the mirror to check your appearance.

“Is the problem really that your feelings suddenly change? Or are you just so afraid of letting yourself develop a genuine emotional connection that you shut down all of your relationships before they have a chance to even really begin?”

You watched as your reflection’s jaw dropped. You could practically see your friend’s smirk, the satisfaction of dissecting another piece of your character written all across their face. This was far from the first time they had proudly announced something that you “had no way of knowing about yourself”.

And as much as you hated to admit it, you knew they were right.

“I have genuine connections,” you said, burying the shock in your voice beneath layers of false confidence and disbelief. “Look at us, we get along great. You know everything about me, even the things I don’t know about myself.” You hoped the stroke of their ego would pull the attention away from you.

“No, no, no.” They clicked their tongue. “I’m talking about all the people you’ve _dated_, Y/N, if you could even call it that. When was the last time you kept someone around for more than a month or two?”

Your fist tightened around your phone. What once had been curiosity about your self sabotage had turned to anger at your friend for thinking they could insult you like this. There was a fine line between being helpful and hurtful, and they had just tripped right over it.

“Had you ever considered that maybe I just haven’t found the right person yet?”

“Y/N, I really don’t think-”

Your phone vibrated against your ear. You pulled the phone in front of your face, not bothering to put it on speaker. A text stretched across the top of the screen. There was only enough time for you to catch the name before it disappeared, but it gave you all the information you needed.

“Tyler is here, I have to go,” you said.

“Oh, yeah, because you’re totally still going to go out with him,” your friend scoffed.

You clicked the end call button without another word, took one final glance in the mirror as you slipped your phone into your pocket, and grabbed your keys before heading out the door. Not wanting to wait for the notoriously slow elevator in your building, you took the stairs down. Your hand barely grazed the handrail as you walked, practically skipping as your heart started to race at the prospect of seeing Tyler. It had been a few days since the last time you hung out - something about band practice or the like - and you were excited to be near him again. He was able to put a type of butterflies in your stomach that you had never experienced before.

You saw him before he saw you. He was standing outside with his back to the door, looking at the brightly colored sign on top of the burger joint across the street. His hands were dug deep into the pockets of his dark jeans, an odd choice for this time of year. His top was adorned with a patterned button-down, putting his dark tattoos on full display. You had yet to work up the courage to ask him if they had any significance.

“Hey,” you said softly as you stepped out the front door of your building. Tyler immediately whirled around, his mouth curling into a small smile. Warmth washed over you as you looked at him and you found yourself matching his expression.

“Wow,” he shook his head a little, as if bringing himself out of a daydream, “you look amazing.”

You glanced down at your worn shirt and chipped nail polish, figuring he must not see you the same way you saw yourself.

“If you think I look nice now, you should see me dressed up.”

“I would love to,” Tyler smiled, extending a hand out to you. You swallowed down the fear bubbling in your chest and laced your fingers with his. “So, the plan for today…”

Tyler started to walk down the sidewalk. You fell into step beside him, idly swinging your arm back and forth. He didn’t seem to mind.

“I was thinking we could grab lunch at that place you really like a few blocks away, catch up on our lives, and then see where the day takes us.”

You nodded, “I think that sounds perfect.”

“Good,” he smiled again, accompanied by a light squeeze of your hand.

Tyler started to tell you a story, but you found yourself struggling to listen. You were still hung up on what your friend had told you over the phone, their sureness that you were incapable of having a connection, the satisfied smirk that you could practically see.

“Are you ok?” Tyler asked. You hadn’t realized how zoned out you were until Tyler drew you right back in again. It took you a second to realize you were nearly two blocks away from your apartment already, right by the laundromat that you had to use for a month when the washing machines went out.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you nodded, trying to convince yourself more than anything. “I’m fine.”

“Do you need to sit for awhile?”

You shook your head, but you weren’t entirely sure of your answer. Your stomach started to twist uncomfortably, and you realized what you had to do.

“Tyler, wait.”

Your feet still stopped moving. It took Tyler a second to notice, until your fingers laced with his pulled his arm straight. He stopped and turned around, letting his grip on your hand loosen until your fingers were barely intertwined. Your eyes were fixated on the ground, staring at the deep crack that was running through the pavement.

“Y/N, are you sure you’re alright?”

You pulled your hand away from Tyler’s, leaving a full foot of space between the two of you. Your eyes were looking everywhere but his face, avoiding seeing the same pained expression that you had seen countless times before. Your heart was practically pounding in your chest, making your hands shake.

“There’s something that I need to tell you.”

You took a deep breath and looked up, meeting Tyler’s brown eyes. His eyebrows were knit together in concern, but his mouth was a straight line. Determined. You pulled your shirt away from the spot where it was rubbing uncomfortably against your neck.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Tyler said, but he didn’t seem so ready himself.

You swallowed down the lump in your throat. It was now or never.

“I love you.”

Tyler’s eyes immediately brightened, his shoulders relaxed, the corner of his mouth curled into a smile. You felt your eyes go wide as your heart continued to pound in your chest. You had never heard yourself say that out loud before.

“I love you too.”

In your panic, you had forgotten that there was a response to your statement. A reciprocation. The words didn’t quite process the first time he said them.

“Wait, what?”

“I said I, um, I love you too,” Tyler said. His hands were back in his pockets again.

You let the words hang there for a moment, letting your mind run over them. This wasn’t some catastrophic moment like you had always expected it to be. You hadn’t suddenly handed over some secret, carefully guarded part of yourself. If anything, you had opened it up, allowing Tyler to see some piece of you that you had never shared before.

“Sorry,” you said, becoming aware of the fact that you were still staring wide-eyed at Tyler. “This is kind of… new, for me.”

Tyler breathed deeply, slowly blowing the air out of his mouth. “Me too.”

“Really?”

“Really, though I’m sure it’s hard to tell through my totally relaxed and not at all panicked demeanor,” he grinned.

You smiled and leaned forward, crashing your lips against Tyler’s. His arms wrapped around your waist, keeping you from falling, and drew you closer to him. The two of you had kissed before, but never like this. It was like the first time all over again, and yet still different. Those same butterflies were back in your stomach again.

Maybe being in love didn’t have to be so bad.


	16. It's A Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1149
> 
> Warnings: Angst, Tyler is up to something
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

“What about that girl that you saw in Philadelphia? You two seemed to get along well,” Tyler offered.

Josh sighed as he threw the tennis ball back up towards the ceiling. It grazed the tiles before landing in his outstretched hand. Tyler followed it with his eyes.

“You mean the one that got drunk and went around telling everyone she was on a date with the drummer from Twenty Two Pilots immediately after telling me music wasn’t a legitimate career? I think I’ll pass.”

“Right,” Tyler nodded as he brought his Red Bull to his lips. “Ok, well, what about the guy back home? Andrew something? You really liked him.”

Josh’s heart sank a little as he remembered the last time the two of them had spoken. What had started as an innocent phone call home had led to a heated argument, and not for the first time. Josh _had _really liked him but…

“It wasn’t going to work out in the long run. We were just two different people.”

“Come on, man, I’ve listed off like six different people. Are you really telling me that _none_ of them work as a date to this awards show?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Why don’t you just bring your brother again? He likes going to awards shows. Or you could just go alone like I always do.”

Josh sighed and finally dropped the tennis ball to his side. He was trying to find a good way to explain what he was feeling to Tyler, but all the words in his head kept getting muddled. It was hard to sift through it all and find the right ones.

“It’s not just about having a date,” he started. It seemed like he was on the right path. “I just… I want to prove to myself that I’m not incapable of being in love, because right now it feels like I am.”

Tyler took another sip of Red Bull before setting it on the table and rubbing a finger along his chin. “What do you mean?”

“Just look at the history that I have with people, Tyler. I can’t seem to keep anyone around for more than a few dates before they decide that it’s not working anymore. Andrew was the closest thing that I had to a successful relationship and we still fought all the time. I just don’t know how all of this works.”

“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit for all the effort that you put into relationships, Josh. I mean, when we were off in Europe you still found ways to make time for Andrew, even when time zones were crazy and our schedules were packed. No matter who you’re with or where you are, you do everything that you can to make that person feel loved. The problem isn’t you and it never has been. I think you just haven’t found the right person yet.”

“And where am I supposed to find them? We’re hardly in a city for more than a night or two and even then we’re busy all the time,” Josh said, throwing an arm out to the side in his exasperation. “Then you have to weed out the people who are trying to date you for fame or money or whatever else they might want. It’s impossible.”

Tyler leaned back in his chair, letting a sly smile slowly overtake his face. Josh raised an eyebrow at him, already preparing for whatever scheme he had in store.

“I know the perfect person.”

“Who?”

“Y/N.”

The name was like a shock to Josh’s system. Y/N was a close friend of theirs who had helped with merch designs and running the booth back in the early days of the band. He had always been so nervous when he talked to them, fiddling with the buttons of his patterned shirts and running his hands through his curly, undyed hair. They had grown more distant as the band got bigger, but always managed to get together once or twice when they were in town. And each time, it reminded Josh of the feelings for them that he still kept buried deep inside.

“I can’t,” Josh shook his head, feeling the refusal in every inch of his body. “Not them.”

“Why not? You two always got along great and they’re easily the nicest person that I know, aside from you. I think you would be a really good match.”

“There’s just too much possibility for things to go terribly wrong. For starters, Y/N will be thrown into the spotlight with thousands of people watching their every move. Then you add in the stress of awards shows and the fact that we haven’t seen one another in a few months and it’s just a recipe for disaster. This, of course, is on top of my terrible reputation with relationships.”

“Would you just give this a chance, please?” Tyler asked. Josh could tell that he was getting increasingly frustrated. “Even if it all goes wrong, Y/N is super sweet and probably wouldn’t even hold it against you. Isn’t that risk worth the potential of being in a relationship that you can actually enjoy?”

“I don’t know,” Josh shrugged. “Maybe I’ll just skip the awards show altogether and save myself the trouble.”

“I’m not going to let you do that,” Tyler said, digging deep into his pocket. Josh felt a pang of fear run straight through his chest once he realized that Tyler had grabbed his phone.

“Hey, what are you-”

“Relax, Josh, I’m just making a call.”

Before Josh had a chance to protest, Tyler had brought the phone to his ear and was patiently waiting, a smile plastered across his face. Josh sat frozen in fear, torn between wanting to stay and see what would happen and running as far from the room as he possibly could. Neither seemed like a good option.

“Hey, Y/N,” Tyler finally said, shooting a look at Josh. “I was just calling to ask you a quick question.”

A pause as Y/N spoke. Josh started to shake his head.

“Yeah, so Josh and I have this awards show coming up in a few weeks - the 23rd, I think, a Saturday - and I was wondering if you wanted to come along as Josh’s date?”

“Tyler! Stop!” Josh whisper-yelled, but Tyler just glanced around the room, ignoring him.

“Yep, we’ve got that covered. Yeah. I don’t think so, but I can check.”

This pattern of questions continued for awhile longer, but Josh was too far to hear what Y/N was asking. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that it was making his hands shake. He watched as Tyler’s mouth slowly curled up into a smile.

“Great,” he said, shifting his eyes so that he was looking at Josh once again. “Then it’s a date.”


	17. Almost Midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: platonic!Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1272
> 
> Warnings: Angst, implications of an abusive relationship
> 
> Author’s Note: I’m just going to apologize in advance for the angst in this one, but hopefully you can still enjoy it :)

Tyler shifted slowly, trying his best not to disturb you as he reached for his drink on the side table. You were snoring softly on his shoulder, having fallen asleep shortly into the TV show that you had decided to watch together. It was the typical routine when you got into a fight with your boyfriend, but Tyler knew it was getting to the part of the night when he would have to wake you up and send you back home. It was always his least favorite part.

Tyler took a long sip of his drink and then set it back on the table. It clinked quietly against the coaster, but from what he could tell, it wasn’t loud enough to wake you. His other hand reached for the TV remote, curious to see how much time was left on the episode. With only ten minutes left until the end, he decided he could wait just a little longer before waking you from your nap.

He hated seeing you like this, swollen eyes and fingers gripping onto the edge of a blanket even while you slept. Although you slept now, he had spent the majority of the afternoon holding onto you while you sobbed into his shoulder. There had been yet another fight between you and your boyfriend, this time you had accused him of cheating but he denied the accusations, giving lie after lie about why it wasn’t true.

At least, Tyler _thought_ they were lies. He didn’t really have any proof.

When the episode finally ended and the credits began to play, Tyler gently rubbed your shoulder. You stirred, but kept your eyes pressed firmly closed.

“No, I don’t want to get up,” you murmured, more a string of sounds than a sentence.

“Y/N, it’s late.”

Your eyes blinked open rapidly, examining the figure next to you. You had been so sure that you were asleep on your boyfriend’s shoulder, so Tyler’s voice had come as a rude awakening, quite literally. You took in the scene around you: blankets wrapped around the two of you, crumb-filled plates still on the coffee table, Tyler’s arm still around your shoulders. The events of the night came rushing back to you, starting with the awful things your boyfriend had said to you before you left.

“What time is it?” you asked, turning to the TV in a panic. Your boyfriend wouldn’t like you being at Tyler’s so late.

“Almost midnight. I figured it was about time you get home.”

A shot of adrenaline rushed down your back, but you simply raised your arms up and stretched, acting as if nothing was wrong. You were already anticipating what words would be shared when you arrived home, but Tyler didn’t need to know about that. He worried about you enough as it was.

“I don’t want to make the drive,” you sighed, collapsing back against the couch cushions. “I still feel like I could fall asleep in a second.”

“Why don’t you stay here for the night? I just put new sheets on the guest bed.”

You bit your lip, considering the offer, but ultimately decided against it. Tyler’s face fell as you told him, followed by a look of something you couldn’t quite place. Determination?

“I’m sorry, I just don’t want to cause another fight with him,” you explained. “Today was already bad enough.”

“Why does it matter where you stay?” Tyler asked. His tone was more defensive now. “He hurt you and I don’t think it’s fair that you have to go back to him when you’re not ready to.”

“Ty… you don’t understand. This isn’t about me. If I stay here, then he’s going to worry all night and I really don’t want to do that to him, even if we fought. I’ll just go home, talk it out with him, and then we’ll be fine by morning.”

“No, I understand perfectly. He’s controlling you.”

You were taken aback by Tyler’s sudden accusation. Sure, he had expressed his dislike of your boyfriend plenty of times before, but he had never accused him of anything until now.

“Controlling me? What are you talking about?” You couldn’t tell if you were more angry or hurt.

“Think about it, Y/N. You have to come home to him every night, even if you’re upset, he’s always trying to stop you from hanging out with me, he lies to you constantly. You’re losing yourself in this guy and I can’t let it keep happening.”

“Losing myself?”

“You’re not who you were before you met him. I know that person and it’s not the same one that’s sitting across from me right now.”

“You’re wrong,” you shook your head, hoping to believe it for yourself. “If I’ve changed, it’s only for the better. Ever since I met him, I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been. Why are you trying to ruin that?”

“I’m not trying to ruin anything, Y/N, I’m trying to help you!” Tyler’s voice started to raise, but he quickly brought it back to a normal level. He wouldn’t let himself sink to the same level as your boyfriend. “This guy is tearing you apart from the inside out.”

“You’re lying.”

“If I’m lying, then why are you over here five days out of the week? Why do you come crying to me after every fight? Why do you tell me about how awful he makes you feel? Explain that to me, Y/N!”

Tears were streaming down your cheeks now. You hated fighting with Tyler, especially after the day you had already had, but you couldn’t just sit and listen to the accusations that he was throwing at you.

“Relationships aren’t perfect, Tyler! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for someone you love, and those are mine.”

“Sacrifices for love shouldn’t involve letting someone walk all over you while they cheat on you behind your back and still control your every move. Especially not when it’s you.”

“Why does it matter if it’s me?” you asked, wiping a tear away with the back of your hand.

“Because you’re…” Tyler felt a lump form in his throat, but he swallowed it down and kept talking. "You’re amazing. Anyone would be lucky to have you, and there are so many people out there who would love you and care about you, but you’re letting yourself fall victim to this guy who barely even gives you the time of day.”

“Oh my god,” you whispered. It felt like the last puzzle piece had just slotted into place.

Tyler’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

“I get it. I know why you’re doing this.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re _jealous_. That’s why you’re attacking him like this, you just want me to get rid of him so that you can take his place. It all makes sense now,” you buried your face in your hands. “The comforting, letting me fall asleep on your shoulder, offering for me to stay here… I can’t believe you.”

“No, that’s not what it was at-”

“You’re pathetic, Tyler.”

Tyler started to say something else, but the words got caught in his throat. All he could do was watch helplessly as you stormed out of the room. He had half a mind to go after you and try to explain himself, but he stayed rooted to the spot. When the front door eventually slammed, his legs finally gave out beneath him and he fell back onto the couch. The TV was still playing, but it was nothing more than background noise to him.

This was something that he wasn’t sure he could come back from.


	18. Nobody For Miles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 773
> 
> Warnings: Implied smut
> 
> Author’s Note: This is a little bit of an out there fic for me, so I hope all of you enjoy it!

“If you look close enough, you can kind of see the edge of the Milky Way right there,” Josh explained, pointing up towards the sky. His other arm was wrapped protectively around your shoulders, keeping you warm against the otherwise chilly night air.

“I think I see it,” you answered, squinting a little. “Near that constellation you were just talking about.”

“Yes, exactly.”

Josh grinned, which made you smile in return. Although space had never been one of your personal interests, you always made sure to pay careful attention when Josh was talking to you about it. Not only did it make him happy, but you enjoyed the giddy expression he always got when you repeated something he had taught you.

Conversation stopped between the two of you as you looked up at the stars, but your quiet music kept away the silence. The wind started to pick up again, so you scooted closer to Josh and wrapped yourself further around him. No matter the weather, he was always a good source of heat. It was especially nice in situations like these, not so much when you wanted to cuddle during the summer months.

Once you were comfortable, you turned your head back so that you could comfortably look at the sky. Josh was humming quietly, made louder by the fact that your head was on his chest. It suddenly came to a stop as a shooting star shot by overhead.

“Did you see that?” Josh asked excitedly.

“Yes.”

“Make a wish!”

You closed your eyes and thought about what you really wanted. After a few moments of thought, you decided that you wished for the rest of the night with Josh to be as perfect as it already had been. Based on your previous dates with Josh, you were pretty sure that you didn’t need a shooting star to make that come true.

“What did you wish for?” you asked.

“If I tell you,” he started, then turned so that he could whisper in your ear, “then it won’t come true.”

The energy between the two of you had undeniably shifted. Every point of contact between the two of you felt like it was on fire, and you wanted more of it. With the way Josh was curling his arm tighter around you, you could tell the same thing was on his mind too.

“Kiss me,” you murmured.

Josh wasted no time in fulfilling your request. His lips pressed softly against yours, adding a new kind of warmth to your body. You tensed as his hands ran along the side of your body, finally resting on your hips. Your hands roamed over him, starting at his chest and slowly working his way towards his hair. The pink strands quickly became tangled between your fingers.

“I love you,” you whispered between kisses. It was nothing you hadn’t said before, but you still enjoyed the tinge of pink that entered Josh’s cheeks when you said it.

“I love you too.” He barely had time to say it before his lips were crashing into yours, more eager this time.

Josh’s kisses started to get more adventurous, moving from your lips to the corner of your mouth, then your jaw, and soon your neck. You gasped each time he pulled away as the once warm kiss was washed over by the cool air. His grip on your hips was tighter now, his fingers digging deep enough that you could feel it through your jeans.

Josh shifted his weight so that he was hovering over you, using one of his arms to support himself. The other started to trail towards your stomach from your hip, sending a chill straight up your spine. You started to give in and get lost in him, but a nearby snap of a branch brought you right back to reality.

“Josh,” you stopped him, pressing one hand against his chest. The warmth of his skin radiated through the thin material of his t-shirt. “Do you really think this is a good idea? I mean, we’re out in the open.”

He leaned closer to you so that you could feel the hotness of his breath with every exhale. “I can promise you that we’re the only ones out here for miles.”

You looked into his eyes. The dark chocolate color of them was visible, even in the dim moonlight, sparkling just as they always did during moments like these. After a deep breath, you nodded.

“I trust you.” Josh smiled and leaned down, capturing you in a kiss. Your fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer.

With that, your decision was sealed.


	19. Reputation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 745
> 
> Warnings: Little bit of angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope all of you enjoy this one :)

My hand was only part way on the door handle when I froze. It lingered there for a second until I pulled away, instead stepping in front of the mirror in the hallway for the millionth time. My shaking fingers went to my shirt collar, smoothing out the fabric. Nothing had changed since I last looked in the mirror, but something still felt out of place.

I closed my eyes, breathing in deeply through my nose. The world around me faded away, allowing me a moment to sort out my thoughts. With each exhale, things seemed to get a little clearer.

Nothing was out of place. It was just nerves.

I thought back to the last time I had been on a date. Things had been great at first: the conversation was easy, the sun was shining, and nobody had commented on the fact that I was famous. Until after dinner, that is. Then someone recognized me on the street, my date put the pieces together, and we had a heated discussion on the sidewalk about my reputation.

It hadn’t been the first time.

My phone started to buzz in my pocket, drawing me out of my head and reminding me that I had to go. Today’s date would only go well if I actually left my house and went on it.

* * *

I dug my hands deep into my pockets. Y/N and I were currently walking through the park after having a nice lunch together. The sun was shining down on us, but the breeze kept it from getting too warm. The date was going better than I ever could have hoped.

Now I was just waiting for it all to fall apart.

“You said you’re a musician, right?” Y/N asked.

I nodded. This was usually where it all started.

“What do you play?”

“A few things,” I shrugged. “Piano, bass, ukulele, singing. And I’ve hit drums once or twice.”

“Wow,” Y/N smiled. “I didn’t expect so many answers.”

“I also write songs.”

“You know, I’m starting to think that I got really lucky bumping into you.”

A smile briefly tugged at the corner of my lips. They wouldn’t think that for long.

“Me too,” I finally said.

Y/N stopped walking. I stopped and turned on my heel, facing them. Their lips were pressed tightly together and they were avoiding eye contact.

I knew exactly what was happening.

“I have a confession to make.”

On the off chance that they were about to confess something entirely different, I kept my mouth shut and nodded.

“I know who you are,” they exhaled. “The band, the music, the awards. Everything.”

“How did you find out?”

“I googled you after you asked me on a date,” Y/N giggled nervously. They were twisting their fingers together. “You know, safety reasons.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“I’m sorry if that’s weird.”

“It happens all the time.”

“Exactly. I didn’t want to be that person.”

I wanted to be more reassuring, but my mind was stuck. All I could think about was if Y/N knew about my reputation.

So I asked.

“Do you know?”

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed, “Know what?”

“About…” I swallowed. “About my reputation?”

It felt like a weight was pressing down on my chest. I hated this conversation and it never seemed to get easier, no matter how many times I had it. Maybe because each date I went on added more fuel to the fire.

I would always be a heartbreaker, no matter how hard I tried.

Y/N averted their gaze again, “I might have seen some things.”

“What did you think?”

I braced myself for the let down.

“I think...” We finally met eyes, “some people just take a little longer to find the right person. And I think some people are put under a lot more fire for it because of who they are.”

A sort of relief washed over me, but I held it back. I needed a clear answer before I finally let my guard drop.

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I think you’re really cool, Tyler, and I’m not letting a stupid reputation change what I think about you.”

My guard dropped so quickly that I swore I felt it physically happen. A smile overtook my face and across from me, Y/N was smiling too. After a hesitant moment, I pulled them into a hug.

This time really was different, after all.


	20. The Night Before Tour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 645
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one :)

Josh knew from the moment he laid eyes on you that your place in his life wasn’t permanent. He had already had his fair share of encounters with fleeting relationships, spending weekends wrapped up in one another until he was off to the next city, but something about you was different. That’s when Josh found himself walking up to you, putting on his signature smile and offering that you two get coffee together the next morning. Drinks had never really been his thing.

What he had originally intended to be a short fling turned into a month long relationship. The two of you spent every free moment together, going on drives along the California coast and exploring the city, trying your best to blend into the crowds. For a moment, Josh thought that this might be the real thing. Maybe it was time to put his playboy reputation to rest once and for all.

Until the morning before tour came.

Josh came over to your apartment, as he often did, sporting his usual outfit of sweatpants and a t-shirt. His hair was still a bit messy, but he was quick to brush his fingers through it when he caught you stifling a giggle.

“I have news,” you said as you placed a steaming mug of coffee on the counter in front of him.

Josh picked it up, letting the ceramic warm his hands. His lips rested on the rim. “Good news?”

“Not exactly.”

He set the mug back down again. “What is it?”

You breathed deeply, already feeling tears prickling at your eyes. Though this was something you had warned Josh about from the start of your relationship, evidently neither of you had expected it to come to pass. As a result, you had kept the news secret ever since you learned about it a few weeks ago, not wanting to ruin whatever the two of you had going on.

“I got the job.”

Josh jumped out of his chair, wrapping his arms around you. You didn’t reciprocate, all you could do was stand there with your face pressed to his chest and hold back tears. His excitement only made the sting worse.

“That’s fantastic!” He squeezed you tighter. “How could you think that was bad news?”

“Because they’re sending me to New York,” you mumbled into his chest.

Josh finally loosened his grip. “What?”

“They’re sending me to New York. For work. I move out in two weeks.” You paused. “I won’t be here when you get back.”

Josh’s mouth opened and closed again. His hands were still gripping your arms, tighter now that you had delivered the bad half of the news.

“Well… I can come visit. We’ll be up there for tour anyway. We can make it work.”

“No, Josh,” you shook your head as tears slipped down your cheeks. “We can’t.”

“Why not?”

You stared at Josh’s chest, unable to look him in the eyes.

“I know you, and I know how you are. You’re not going to want to do long distance, not when you’re in a different city.”

“But it’s you.”

“Me? The person you’ve been unofficially dating for a month? What kind of foundation is that for us, Josh?”

“It’s enough.”

You shook your head, hastily wiping away a tear with the back of your hand. Josh’s fingers were digging into your arm.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not. I love you, Y/N.”

“Please, Josh, will you just stop? I know how this has to end, and you telling me lies to try and make me stay will only make it worse.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

You leaned forward, pressing your forehead to Josh’s chest. He slowly wrapped his arms around you, drawing you in until your body was pressed against his. You no longer tried to stop the tears.

Some things were just meant to end.


	21. More Than Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1572
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

“Think fast,” Tyler said, seconds before a tennis ball was flying at your face. To anyone else, Tyler’s antics might have been an annoyance, but you had known him long enough to grow used to it. You reached up and caught the ball before it smashed into your nose. Tyler sighed, “I’ll catch you off guard one of these times.”

You were currently sitting in Tyler’s dressing room, hanging out with him before tonight’s show. It wasn’t often that you had the chance to do so, but since they were playing in your shared hometown of Columbus, Ohio, you had managed to get the night off work so you could join them.

“It’s been four years and you’ve never caught me off guard once, what makes you think it will happen now?”

“I’ll find a way. Maybe I can distract you with my good looks.”

You laughed and playfully threw the ball at Tyler. He jumped out of the way before grabbing his white button down from the clothing rack. The tennis ball hit the wall with a dull thud and rolled along the floor.

Tyler laid the shirt out on the table and turned so that his back was to you. You watched as he stripped off his tank top and tossed it aside, trading it out for the button down. He hummed quietly as he worked away on the buttons.

“You got pretty quiet,” Tyler said. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just enjoying the view.”

Tyler looked at you over his shoulder, the smile and blush on his cheeks clearly visible. You bit down on your lip and avoided his gaze.

You and Tyler had always had a weird relationship. Blatant flirting had been a staple of your relationship since day one, but there had never been any sort of label on it aside from “best friend”. Sometimes you entertained the thought of a relationship with him, but somewhere along the way the idea always seemed to unravel. There was something that wouldn’t work, someone who wasn’t ready, a tour that would keep you apart for too long.

So this is what you had.

“Can I ask you a question?” you filled the silence that had formed.

Tyler finished the last button of his shirt and turned around, his painted hands fiddling idly with the collar.

“Sure.”

“What do you consider me?”

Tyler’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Like… us. Who am I to you?”

You watched as Tyler swallowed hard. His hand moved from his collar up and around his neck, rubbing at the back of it. He pressed his lips firmly together before releasing them again.

“Who do you want to be?”

“I’m asking you.”

Tyler rolled his shoulders, shifting his eyes around the room. You had only meant it to be an innocent question, but Tyler’s reaction made it clear that it was more than that. Maybe it should have been left unsaid.

“You’re my friend,” he finally answered. “My best friend.”

You hesitated, thinking over the next words to come out of your mouth. There wasn’t much time before Tyler would have to be onstage and you didn’t want to leave him mulling over some half-finished discussion about the nature of your relationship.

“Is that all?”

“I go back to my original question,” Tyler said. “Who do you want to be?”

That seemed to be the million dollar question.

“Tyler! Five minutes until we’re on stage!”

Tyler reached his hands into his hair, grabbing at the strands with his fingers. His eyes squeezed shut, closing out the world around him. You stood up and closed the space between the two of you, gently grabbing his wrists and pulling them down towards you.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring this up right before you went on stage. I thought we had more time.”

“It’s not you,” he shook his head. “There’s just… a lot of questions.”

“We can talk about them after the show. You need to focus right now.”

“You’re right.”

Tyler started to reach for his tie, but you caught his hand. “I’ve got it.”

He watched as you carefully flipped up his collar and slid the tie around his neck. Tyler was usually very particular about how his tie was done so that it was able to be undone easily during quick changes, though he had confessed to you once that you were the only person who was able to do it better than him. You could see him biting back a smile as you smoothed his collar back out.

“I’ll make you a promise,” you said as he grabbed his jacket from where it was thrown over the back of a nearby chair. “By the time you finish the show tonight, I’ll have an answer to your question.”

“I’ll have an answer too.”

You shook your head, “If you’re not careful, you’re going to end up confessing your true feelings to the arena instead of singing song lyrics.”

“Ok, no answer then.”

“Just focus on the show.”

“I can do that.”

You leaned towards Tyler and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. He smiled and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest. He smelled like a mix of laundry detergent and cologne.

“Alright, if I don’t get out there I’m going to get yelled at,” Tyler said, finally releasing you.

“You’ve got this, Ty.”

“And so do you,” he grinned.

After a quick fist bump, Tyler grabbed his mask and pulled it on while he ran out of the room. You hung back for a moment, not wanting to get caught up in the chaos of last minute changes and preparations. Once the show had started and things had settled down, you would take your place to the side of the stage to watch the show.

And think of your answer to Tyler’s question.

* * *

Tyler was beaming as he made his way off stage, heading straight in your direction. As soon as he was close enough, he threw a sweaty arm around your shoulders and pulled you into his side. You laughed and made a show of trying to push him away, even though you were enjoying being close to him.

“What did you think of the show?” he asked, grabbing a water bottle with his free hand. He reached all the way around you to unscrew the cap.

“I have to admit, I was kind of distracted the whole time.”

“By my good looks?”

“No.”

“My beautiful voice?”

“No.”

“By _Josh_?”

“No,” you laughed. “I was thinking.”

Tyler nodded as he chugged his water. You hadn’t initially realized that he was leading you back to his dressing room until your dark surroundings changed into the white concrete walls of the backstage hallways. Your heart started to pound in your chest as you realized the once-distant conversation was quickly becoming a reality.

Tyler removed his arm from around you once you reached the dressing room, instead moving to grab a towel to wipe away some of his sweat. You took a hesitant seat on the couch, not quite relaxing back into it.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Tyler said, rubbing the towel along his forehead. “Let me have it.”

You clasped your hands, nervously rubbing your thumb along the side of your finger. The answer was so clear in your head, but you were unsure of how Tyler would react when you finally said. It was a feeling that you had never expressed out loud before, not even to yourself. It had stayed buried deep inside your heart.

“I want us to be more than friends.”

Tyler’s eyebrows raised and he slowly dropped the towel away from his forehead. You started to rub at your finger harder, patiently - or rather, impatiently - waiting for his answer.

“You do?”

“Mhmm.”

Tyler bit down on his lower lip, shifting his gaze away from yours.

“You aren’t scared?”

“Scared of what?”

“That we might,” Tyler paused, rubbing a hand along his forehead, “that we might ruin what we already have.”

Your eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean?”

“You mean so much to me, Y/N, and I’m terrified of messing that up. What if we do this for real and then it all goes down in flames? Am I just going to lose you forever then? The thought of it just…” He shook his head.

“But who’s to say that something won’t happen even if we aren’t dating? The future is unpredictable and relationships can change in an instant. I don’t think it’s fair to either of us to throw away a chance at a great relationship just because we’re afraid that we might lose one another in the process.”

Tyler spoke softly, “I don’t want you just to be a memory. I want you to be here, in my life, forever.”

“I will, Ty. That’s a promise.”

Tyler was on the couch next to you in an instant, wrapping a hand around the back of your neck and pulling your lips to his. You caught yourself with his t-shirt, clutching it in your hand so that you could hold him close. His lips were soft and tasted faintly of sweat, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

“I love you,” Tyler whispered into the space between your lips.

“I love you too.”

With that, he pulled you into another kiss and held you close. It was the first of many happy memories.


	22. That Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1427
> 
> Warnings: Angst, mention of alcohol
> 
> Author’s Note: Apparently the theme for this weekend’s fics is “almost dating but not actually dating” :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one!

You watched him from across the room, all tousled red hair and a nice laugh. He hadn’t noticed you yet, which was only partially your doing. Tyler had already tried to drag you over to see him countless times but, as it was his party, he always got whisked away by someone or other before he was actually successful. While he was distracted, you would dip into another room, away from him, and start up a conversation with an old friend so you had a reason not to look in his direction.

That had been working fine until now. You were standing in the kitchen, a cold beer pressed into your hand and making your fingers tingle as they threatened to go numb. Your conversation partner had left you some time ago, claiming they wanted to see what was happening in the living room. You had started to walk out of the room, to continue the pattern of avoiding him, until you heard his laugh. It was like a shock to your system, flooding your chest with a familiar warmth as you thought of nights spent in your cramped living room giggling and leaning in to one another.

That had been before everything happened.

You started to walk out of the room, already scanning for someone you could talk to. Even Tyler would work, although he would only end up trying to drag you back in to see the person you were avoiding in the first place. There just had to be _someone_ in front of you, forcing a polite smile on your face and keeping your gaze out of the kitchen. Anything to keep the sinking feeling from stretching out past your chest.

“Y/N?”

You froze dead in your tracks, not for the first time in the last minute. His voice was almost as familiar as his laugh.

“Josh,” you said, turning to face him. “Nice to see you.” You paired the sentiment with the polite smile you had been practicing all night.

“I know, feels like forever since we were last together,” he said, reaching up to rub a hand along the side of his neck. “I was wondering if we could catch up, actually.”

Your eyebrows involuntarily raised. The last time you had seen Josh, he had made it very clear that he needed space from you until he could figure things out. That had only led to a gradual loss of contact until you had practically forgotten he existed.

Well, you liked to pretend that you had forgotten.

“Sure.”

“Let’s go outside,” Josh said, nodding his head in the direction of the back door.

He started to weave his way through the crowd. You surprised yourself by reaching out and wrapping a hand around his forearm, making it easier for you to keep up with his movements. It was effortless, just as things always had been.

Josh led you out to the swinging bench that sat in the backyard, near the fence. You had spent countless summer days sprawled out on it, swinging idly back and forth while Tyler strummed at his ukulele. Sometimes Josh had joined the two of you, giving you a place to rest your head as you watched the sun shine through the leaves above.

The atmosphere tonight was the polar opposite of those carefree summer days. The sun had already long since sunk past the horizon, but a cover of clouds kept the stars hidden away. Muffled music was just audible, though that was the only background noise to your silence. And although Josh sat on the bench with you, there was enough space between you for a third person.

Now, those summer days felt like little more than a daydream.

“So,” Josh said, finally breaking the silence. You nervously adjusted your grip on the beer bottle in your hand. “How have you been?”

“Fine,” you answered, though it felt like the furthest thing from the truth. “You?”

“Normal, I guess. Not much going on, aside from touring.”

_Normal_. You mulled over the word in your head. His normal was a life without you in it.

You wondered what that was like.

“Ah,” you said.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Why did you ask me to come out here, Josh? This was a bad idea.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“What is there for us to talk about? This… this thing between us - whatever it was - is over. There’s no reason for us to try and be friends.”

You got up then, deciding that it was finally time you give in and leave the party for good. Tears were already pooling in your eyes and Josh was the last person that you wanted to see them.

“Wait,” Josh said, catching your arm before you got too far. “Maybe there is.”

You stopped, dug your palms into your eyes to wipe away the tears, and then turned to face him.

“Then tell me, Josh, because I can’t think of a single one.”

The night of your “breakup” - or your falling out, as you preferred to call it - was still so clear in your mind. You and Josh had been getting close during the months before, going on unofficial dates and sharing a kiss or two when nobody else was around. Whenever the conversation of making it official came up, usually Tyler’s doing, one or both of you always found a way to skirt around it, claiming you would talk about it in private.

You never did, until that night.

You had been curled up in Josh’s arms, tracing the outlines of his tattoo sleeve while you had another long conversation about your lives. Your interest in him had been steadily growing, and you decided that it was long past time you ask what his thoughts were. The conversation had started innocently enough, with you explaining how you really, truly felt about him, but things went downhill as soon as you flipped the question back on him. He got defensive, claiming he liked you but it was never serious.

By the time you left that night, it had been decided that you two just needed some space from each other to decide what to do. Until tonight, you had never heard from Josh again.

“Because I miss you, Y/N,” he said, letting his shoulders drop. “There hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t thought about what I said to you. I would take it back if I could, but I was stupid and scared and I made that your problem instead of mine. Can you please just hear me out?”

“Fine.”

“I love you, Y/N. I loved you then and I love you now, but after my last relationship went up in flames in front of the media, I was hesitant to drag anyone back into that. I care about you too much to ever let that happen to you, but instead of voicing that concern I just made up some lame excuse about not being serious. I’ve always been serious about you, and I want to make it up to you. That’s why I invited you out here in the first place.”

“And why should I trust you? Do you even know how badly you hurt me?”

“No, I know,” Josh shook his head. “I just thought… since you took a risk and asked me how I felt that one night, maybe I should do the same.”

You searched Josh’s face, looking for any sign that he was lying to you or playing some sort of game. There had been countless times where you had imagined this scenario, picturing how you would react based on how you were feeling that day. Now that you were here, with Josh in front of you, you had no idea what to do.

“Do you mean it?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Mean what?”

“That you love me?”

“More than anything,” he said without an ounce of hesitation in his voice. “From the moment I met you, you became the most important thing in my life. I know that I’ve made mistakes before, but I just want to be the best that I can for you. I promise.”

You practically crashed into Josh, already feeling a fresh wave of tears beginning to slip down your cheeks. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you close enough to his chest that you could feel his heartbeat.

“I love you,” you murmured into his chest.

“I love you too. Please never let me make a mistake like that again.”

You shook your head. “Never.”


	23. Love You Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1194
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: Thank you to everyone for being patient with me while I took a little break last weekend, it was much needed :) I hope you enjoy this one!

You watched as droplets of rain pattered against the skylight in the den, creating a quiet backdrop to the conversation that you and Tyler were having. The two of you were laying on the floor, your head resting on his stomach as you looked up at the falling rain. His fingers brushed steadily up and down your arm.

“I know you were looking forward to going to the conservatory today, but I have to admit that this is a pretty nice alternative,” Tyler said.

“Agreed. I like spending time with you like this.”

Between Tyler’s busy tour schedule and your work, time for the two of you to sit around and just enjoy each other’s company was few and far between. More often than not, one of you was dragging the other out of the house to distract them from work and sitting around left too much time for stress to creep in and ruin the moment. Today, however, you were both relaxed and able to enjoy the afternoon.

Or so you thought.

“I love you.”

It came out of nowhere. Your shoulders involuntarily tensed. Your hands, which had previously been rested flat against your stomach, tightened and gripped at your shirt. Tyler’s hand continued to brush against your arm as if this was nothing out of the ordinary. In many ways it wasn’t, Tyler had told you countless times before that he loved you. The problem was that you had never said it _back_.

“Thanks, Ty,” you said, rolling onto your stomach so that you could give him a quick kiss. He didn’t return the gesture, leaving you placing an awkward sort of half-kiss onto the corner of his mouth. You pressed your lips together and leaned back.

“So you don’t love me?” he asked, putting his arms behind him so that he could rest on his elbows.

Your nerves instantly jumped from a two to a ten. Usually Tyler was upset for a bit when this happened, but he never outright confronted you about it. Hearing him ask you so directly sent a chill down your spine.

“I- it’s complicated, Ty.”

“It’s a yes or no question, Y/N.”

You opened your mouth to say something, but quickly caught yourself. This discussion was already escalating and you really weren’t looking to get into a screaming match with the guy you… liked.

“Why does it matter if I put words to how I feel? Love or not, I still have really strong feelings about you.”

You crossed your arms, satisfied with the response. Tyler fully pulled himself up to a sitting position, sticking one leg out so that it only missed your hip by a few centimeters. He ran one hand through his dark hair, twisting the strands around his finger.

“Listen, Y/N, every day that we’re together I fall in love with you a little bit more. I’ve never felt this strongly about someone before and, if I’m being honest, I’m scared to fall more in love with you if you’re only going to end up dumping me because you don’t feel the same.”

“Isn’t that a risk you run in any relationship?”

He shrugged. “Sure it is, but there’s also a level of reassurance that comes along with hearing that someone loves you. It’s been six months now, isn’t there at least some part of you that loves me?”

You hated how innocent Tyler seemed as he looked at you. His eyebrows were slightly raised in question and he was still twisting his hair around his finger. It was almost like he hadn’t just stabbed a knife through your heart.

“I feel awfully pressured to lie about how I feel for the sake of making you comfortable,” you said, your tone suddenly icy.

Tyler’s innocent look was gone. His hands dropped to his lap and he immediately pulled his eyes away from yours. Your regret was immediate.

“So you don’t love me.”

“No, Ty, let me explain,” you said, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. He pulled away. “Please.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“Because…” you paused, trying hard to swallow the lump in your throat. It was now or never. “Because I do love you and I need to explain.”

He finally turned to look at you again, revealing the tears that had welled up at the bottom of his eyes. In one quick motion he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

“You love me?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you say that?”

You took a deep breath before talking. “Like I said, it’s complicated. I… I have a history of… not being very nice in relationships. I knew as soon as I told you I loved you too there was a chance that it could happen again and I didn’t want to do that to you. You deserve the whole world, Ty, and I’m not sure that I can be that for you.”

“Of course you can, Y/N. You _are_.”

You shook your head, already feeling the tears beginning to build up. You brought your hands to your face in a vain attempt to hide it from Tyler.

“I’m only going to hurt you. I already _have_,” you sniffled. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Tyler reached out and carefully wrapped his arms around you, drawing you into his chest.

“It was a misunderstanding. I’m sorry that I made you feel pressured to say how you feel.”

“It wasn’t you.” You shook your head against his chest. “Please don’t apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But-”

“No buts,” you cut him off. “And no apologies.”

Tyler breathed in deeply, but didn’t argue. “Ok.”

“I should have told you earlier, but I let the fear win. I love you, Tyler, so much. I’m sorry that I hurt you, I promise I’ll never do it again.”

“Y/N, hey,” Tyler said softly, rubbing his hand along your back. “It’s ok. You don’t need to apologize anymore.”

You barely even heard him over the sounds of your sniffles and continued apology. “I understand if you still want to end things. It’s probably for the best. You deserve so much better than I could ever give you.”

Tyler finally grabbed hold of your arms and pushed you away from his chest so that you were at arm’s length. You quickly wiped at your tears with the back of your hand, even though it wouldn’t really change much. He already knew you were crying.

“Will you listen to me?” You nodded. “Nothing has changed between us, ok? Yes, I was upset about how you handled this, but you explained it and I understand your reservations now. You never need to apologize for being scared, but it does help if you communicate these things with me. My feelings are just the same as they were before, if not stronger. I love you, Y/N.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of your lips. “I love you too.”

With that, Tyler pulled you into a kiss. It was gentle, but exactly what you needed to remind yourself that he really did love you.

And you loved him too.


	24. Thirty Four Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 900
> 
> Warnings: A tiny sprinkle of angst
> 
> Author’s Note: Sorry this post is a little late! Daylight savings totally messed up my sleep schedule and this is the first chance I’ve had to post. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this one :)

You were pouring your soda out into a cup when the phone started ringing. In your excitement you nearly dropped the can and spilled the contents all across the counter. With still shaking hands, you steadied the drink on the counter and then rushed into the other room, picking up your phone and hitting answer call in one swift motion.

You waited the couple seconds the call needed to connect before voicing a “Hello?”

“Y/N.” You could practically see Josh’s smile over the phone.

“Hi,” you said, unable to keep a smile off of your own face.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m alright,” you answered, starting to wander back towards the kitchen so you could finish pouring your drink. “How are you? How’s Europe?”

“It’s good… really good, but I do have some bad news.”

“Right off the bat, huh?”

“I know,” Josh said, paired with a breathy exhale that you thought he might have intended to be a laugh. “I just wanted to get it out of the way so we can still end this call on a positive note.”

“Let me have it.” You took a long sip of soda.

“We’re extending the tour by another month.”

Your smile faltered, yet you couldn’t help feeling relieved at the same time. There were far worse things Josh could be calling to tell you.

“Do you get a break?”

“Only for a couple days. In other words, I won’t be home for a while.”

“A month,” you repeated. “And here I was thinking that I might get to actually spend some time with my boyfriend.”

Josh laughed, “I’m sure we can find some time for you to fly out here and join the tour for a few days.”

“I know, but you were supposed to be home in a few days,” you said, being careful not to let the disappointment seep into your tone. “I don’t want to wait a few weeks to see you again.”

“I don’t either. Trust me, if it was my choice, I’d fly home tomorrow.”

You grabbed your drink and walked back into the living room, stretching out on the couch. Even if Josh wouldn’t be home when you thought he would, at least you could look forward to the next couple of hours on the phone with him.

“Alright, Dun, you said you wanted to end this on a positive note, so let’s hear about how the show went.”

If you were being honest, you were changing the subject more for yourself than for Josh. You just wanted to have a normal conversation with him, not dwell on the fact that you would be apart even longer.

“It was alright, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you the entire time,” he said with a quiet laugh.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I spent every spare second during outfit changes looking at my lock screen. It’s the picture of us on the beach, you know when we went for our… third anniversary, I think?”

“I remember,” you smiled. “Is it the one where our shorts are soaked halfway up because we weren’t paying attention to the waves?”

“That’s the one. Your smile in that photo is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Stop,” you giggled. “We’ve been over this, you’re the pretty one in the relationship.”

“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “You’re way better looking than I could ever be.”

“Come on, Joshie! You have the cute, curly hair and the nicest brown eyes I’ve ever seen. Are you really trying to tell me that I could top that?”

“Well…”

“Josh!” you said, feeling your cheeks get flushed. “I’m just going to say that I won that debate.”

“Did not!”

“Sorry, but you didn’t argue back. Those are the rules,” you said, taking a triumphant sip of your soda.

“Fine, fine,” he said with a sigh. “Going back to how much I miss you, I teared up a little tonight when Tyler played Tear In My Heart. I tried to hide it, but I think a couple people still noticed.”

“Aww, Josh.”

“I know, it was kinda embarrassing,” he laughed. “But I just started thinking about you and how I haven’t seen you in a few months. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“I wish I had more say about when I get to come home. I miss being with you and falling asleep next to you and trying to get you to kiss me even when I have gross morning breath.”

“I know, but you’ll be home to torment me with morning kisses soon enough,” you laughed.

“I love you, Y/N. I promise one day we won’t have to do long distance anymore.”

“I look forward to when that day comes. I love you too, Josh.”

“I think I really needed to hear that.”

You spent the next couple hours on the phone with Josh until he finally said he needed to go since everyone else on the bus was going to bed. After a short back and forth about who would be the first to hang up you finally gave in, not wanting to run the risk of an angry text from Tyler the next morning telling you to be quieter next time. When the call finally disconnected, you set your phone down next to your empty cup and laid back against the cushions.

Only thirty four more days until Josh came home.


	25. Interview Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1212
> 
> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Author’s Note: Sorry that this is a little later in the day than usual! I hope you enjoy it :)

_The information isn’t even public yet. You don’t need to worry._

Tyler twisted his fingers together, pulling at the skin and making his knuckles pop. He repeated the phrases in his head like a mantra, hoping that they would eventually stick. This was the only interview that they had to do today. He could make it through. He was prepared.

One of the cameramen gave a thumbs up and Tyler immediately put on his interview face. He straightened out, turning to Josh one last time. Josh gave him a nod and a reassuring pat on the back. It was enough to make Tyler’s smile grow a little more. At least Josh was here with him.

“Rolling in three, two…”

“Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The News with Drew. My name is Drew and today I am joined by Josh and Tyler of the American rock duo Twenty One Pilots. Thank you for joining us today, guys.”

“Thank you for having us,” Tyler said. He tried to covertly wipe his sweaty palms off on his jeans.

The first interview questions were a breeze. He and Josh were bouncing jokes off of one another and giving interesting answers to the questions that they had already answered a million times before. As time slipped by, Tyler found himself forgetting about all the worries that he had in the first place.

“Alright,” Drew smiled, flipping to his next interview card. “This next question is for Tyler.”

Tyler nodded to show he was listening.

“There have been some rumors circulating lately that you’ve recently split from your long-time partner Y/N. Do you care to comment on that?”

He took a deep breath, thinking back to the answer that he had carefully practiced that morning.

“I’m not sure where these rumors are coming from, but I can assure you that Y/N and I are still perfectly happy together.”

A lump formed in Tyler’s throat at the end of his sentence, but he managed to keep his voice steady and his expression even.

“Well, fans have recently been spreading around this video that tells a different story. Why don’t we take a look?”

Drew pointed to a nearby screen. A chill ran down Tyler’s spine as a video began to play. In it, one of Y/N’s friends was filming Y/N as they sat on the couch, curled up in blankets with a bag of cookies balanced on their lap. The video was short, lasting only a few seconds, but the caption at the bottom of the screen said everything.

_Nothing like a blanket burrito and cookies to get over a break up!_

Tyler’s stomach dropped.

“That video paints a pretty different picture, if you ask me.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Tyler could see Josh’s hands squeezed so tightly together that his knuckles were turning white. Meanwhile his room felt like it was starting to spin. He took a deep, shaking breath and turned to Drew.

“Alright, you caught me,” he said, forcing a smile and holding his hands up in mock defeat. “Yes, Y/N and I did split up a few weeks ago. It was a mutual decision, although both of us are still broken up about it, as you can see. All I ask for is privacy as we both learn to rebuild our lives apart from one another.”

“Well said,” Drew smiled. “I’m sure the fans will be happy to have things cleared up.”

Tyler smiled on the outside. On the inside, a fire was burning.

When the interview finally ended and he got the ok that the cameras were off, Tyler wasted no time in getting on his feet and storming out of the room. Normally he and Josh hung around to talk to the host and thank the crew, but he couldn’t manage it today. Ever since they had asked about Y/N, he felt like he was seconds away from completely falling apart. He intended to put as much distance as he could between himself and everyone else before that happened.

Relief washed over Tyler as he realized that the tour bus was empty. He immediately went to the back, shutting the door that separated the tiny bedroom from the rest of the bus. Now that he was alone, the tears that he had so carefully been holding in finally spilled over.

He hated having to lie, especially when so many people were involved. The split from Y/N had been anything but mutual, leaving him heartbroken for the last two weeks. More than once he had come close to cancelling a show because he was having trouble dragging himself out of bed. And when he wasn’t busy, Tyler was sitting in front of his phone wondering if he should call them. If he should ask for a second chance.

He never did.

Tyler wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Josh finally stepped into the room. He quietly shut the door and shortly after Tyler felt the bed dip near his legs.

“I thought I was going to punch that interviewer for bringing Y/N up. Who does something like that?”

Tyler sniffled.

“I think you handled it really well, though, all things considered.”

“Thanks.”

“How are you doing?”

Tyler rolled onto his back so that he would actually be able to see Josh’s face.

“How does it look like I’m doing?” he laughed.

Josh smiled and patted Tyler’s shin. “I should have known.”

“I just know that now that this information is public, it’s going to be the only thing that interviewers want to ask me about. I’m not sure that I can keep lying about being over Y/N, Josh.”

“I won’t let them keep asking you those questions. We can talk to management about getting the breakup topic excluded from future interviews. It was just hard because that one came out of left field.”

“No kidding,” Tyler scoffed. “_I _hadn’t even seen that video.”

“That was probably for the best.”

“Yeah.”

“Also, I think we can agree never to do an interview with that guy again.”

“Absolutely.”

“Hey, why don’t you come out and sit on the couch with me, Mark, and Brad? I think it would be a good idea for you to be with people right now.”

“I don’t know…”

“I think it would help cheer you up.”

Tyler sighed. Josh was right, as much as he might hate to admit it.

“Alright.”

Tyler slowly got up from the bed and followed Josh out towards the front of the bus, wiping at his eyes as he did so. Mark and Brad were already sitting at the table, talking while they sipped on drinks. Josh grabbed a Red Bull for Tyler from the fridge.

He got settled on the couch and tried his best to listen to the conversation that Mark and Brad, and now Josh, were having. They were talking about funny things that they had seen at the show last night, ranging from funny signs to people messing up the lyrics to the songs. Before long, Tyler found himself laughing along with the rest of them. Josh noticed and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Little by little, Tyler could feel his heart beginning to heal.


	26. Wonderstruck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Reader’s Choice x Reader
> 
> Word Count: 1350
> 
> Warnings: None
> 
> Author’s Note: This is my last bandom bingo fic for the first round! Which means that requests will finally be opening again soon! I hope you enjoy this one :)

“I couldn’t have been imagining that,” you said as you stirred your straw around your drink. “I mean, he was definitely looking at me a lot, right?”

Your friend nodded emphatically as they took a long sip of their drink. The ice clinked against the edge of the glass as they set it back down on the bar.

“I told you, you should have tried to talk to him after the show.”

“Yeah, like that would have happened,” you laughed. “What was I supposed to say to the security guard? ‘Hey, I think one of the guys from the band and I were making a lot of eye contact. Can I talk to him?’”

Your friend snorted as they laughed. “I think it would have worked.”

“_Totally_.”

You pulled your straw towards your lips and took a long drink, thinking over all the possibilities that could have happened tonight. What if you _had_ gone up and tried to talk to him? Where would you be right now?

“Hey, look!” your friend said, kicking you in the shin to get your attention.

“Ow! What?”

“Turn around!” they whispered.

You snuck a glance over your shoulder in the direction they were looking. Your jaw immediately dropped as you recognized the guys walking into the bar. They were now wearing hoodies instead of the tank tops they had worn earlier in the night. You wanted to turn back to your friend, but your eyes were glued to him. He looked in your direction, locking eyes with you for a moment before you finally got nervous and turned back to your friend.

“What are the odds of that?” you asked, adjusting your shirt where it had slipped a little too far down your shoulder.

“You have to talk to him!”

“No way. Do you see all the people he’s with? I’ll be turned away before I even get within a few feet of him.”

“Then slide him a napkin with your number or something! Come on, Y/N, you two were _definitely_ making eyes at one another and now he’s _here_! Fate doesn’t get much clearer than that.”

You started to stir your straw around again. “Yeah, or maybe we just happen to be at one of the most popular bars in town after a concert.”

“Wait a second! This looks promising.”

“What does?” you asked, turning in the direction they were looking.

You watched as your dream guy slid past a few of his friends and started to walk in your direction. Your friend practically started vibrating in their seat.

“He’s probably just getting a drink,” you said, keeping your voice low. “We are sitting at the literal bar.”

“He was definitely looking at you before he- nevermind, here he comes!”

“What do I do?” you mouthed to your friend, but they simply put on their winning smile.

“Excuse me?”

A chill ran down your spine. After taking a moment to compose yourself and wipe the scared expression off your face, you turned to face him. Seeing him up close was enough to literally take your breath away.

“Hi,” you coughed.

“Hi,” he smiled. “I was just wondering, um, you look really familiar. Have we met?”

“Not formally, but I was at your show tonight.”

“Right! You were in the crowd. I thought I recognized you.”

“Yeah, that was me!” you smiled. “I’m Y/N, by the way.”

“Y/N,” he repeated with a nod. “Nice to meet you, I’m-”

You held up a hand, “You don’t need to introduce yourself, I know who you are.”

This earned a laugh from him. You were surprised by how easy it was to talk to him, like you had already known him for a lifetime. Your friend took notice of this and quietly slipped away from the conversation.

“So, Y/N,” he said, casually sliding into your friend’s now empty seat. “Come here often?”

You jokingly rolled your eyes at his cheesy line. “Yes, actually. My friends and I come here a couple times a month, if not more for birthdays and stuff. It’s one of the nicest bars in town, plus they have killer french fries.”

His eyebrows raised, “Do they?”

You nodded and took a sip of your drink. He raised a hand, catching the attention of the bartender, and asked for a basket of fries. You noticed part of his tattoo peek out from under his sleeve as he did so.

“You won’t be disappointed. Guaranteed.”

“Guaranteed? I like the sound of that.”

Conversation continued to flow naturally after that. He told you all about tour life and making music with his best friend, while you told him all about the ins and outs of your daily life. You were surprised by how much interest he showed even in the most mundane parts. Of course, there were also plenty of flirtatious jokes and elbow bumps thrown in along with it.

“Alright, it’s getting late and I think my friends want to get out of here soon,” he said, starting to dig around in his pocket. “It was really nice talking to you, Y/N.”

“You too,” you smiled, trying not to let the disappointment show on your face.

He finally got what he was looking for out of his pocket - a Sharpie - and grabbed a nearby napkin. You watched as he hastily scribbled down his name and a phone number beneath it.

“I hope I get to talk to you again soon,” he grinned as he passed the folded napkin to you.

He pulled you into a quick hug before walking off to join his friends again. You sat frozen in place, still holding the napkin in your hand and trying to process everything that had happened over the last two hours. Any minute now, you were ready to wake up and realize that the entire thing had been some kind of crazy, wonderful dream.

“Please tell me that’s what I think it is,” your friend said, suddenly appearing out of thin air.

“Am I dreaming?”

Your friend answered you by pinching your arm, making you squeal.

“Not dreaming,” they grinned.

“That really just happened. I really have his number.”

“Yes!”

“We need to get home before I pass out,” you laughed.

* * *

You were still in shock when you finally arrived home, still holding the napkin tightly in one hand so that you didn’t risk losing it. As soon as your shoes were off, you collapsed onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling.

“There’s no way I’m special. That _has_ to be something that he does in every city.”

“I don’t know, Y/N, he doesn’t really seem like the type.”

“There’s just no way! Shouldn’t he be dating someone already? I mean have you seen him? Why me?”

“Because you’re hot, Y/N!”

You rolled off the couch and started to pace the length of the living room, needing something to match the speed of your racing thoughts. Your friend’s eyes followed you as you moved back and forth, back and forth.

“I just don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to understand! All you _need _is his number, which you have!”

“I just can’t picture it. Me? Dating _him_? I have to be dreaming.”

“We’ve already established that this is reality.”

“It can’t be!”

Your friend finally stood up and intercepted you, placing their hands firmly on your shoulders.

“Y/N. You have his number. This isn’t a dream. Now would you stop freaking out and just enjoy the fact that tonight happened? You had an experience that some people would die for.”

“You’re right,” you nodded. “I need to stop worrying about the hypotheticals and focus on reality, as unrealistic as that reality may seem.”

Your friend’s eyebrows furrowed, but they were smiling. “Yes. I think.”

You finally sat back down on the couch and kicked your feet up onto the coffee table. Your heart started to race just thinking about all the things that had happened tonight, from the first minutes of the concert to the hug that the two of you had shared.

It had been perfect.


End file.
